Boy Wonder

Raphael was already regarded as a master painter at a time when the majority of young men were concerned with finding employment and making a few ducats. The talented young artist would later develop into an outstanding architect, furthering his fame, which already comprised a number of significant murals in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican known as the Stanze di Raffaello (The Raphael Rooms).

Raphael was kept busy for the majority of his career by rich commissions, such as the portraits of popes Julius II and Leo X, but on his 37th birthday, while in Rome, he abruptly passed away from unidentified causes. The master was completing the stunning "The Transfiguration," which he had just begun.