Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio was born in Urbino, the son of Giovanni Santi, a court painter who gave him his first training. Orphaned at eleven, he joined the workshop of Pietro Perugino and soon equaled his master. In Florence from 1504 he studied the work of Leonardo and Michelangelo and painted a series of gentle Madonnas. In 1508 Pope Julius II called him to Rome to decorate rooms in the Vatican palace. In the room now called the Stanza della Segnatura he painted The School of Athens, which shows Plato, Aristotle and other ancient thinkers gathered in a grand classical hall, and The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament facing it. He ran a large and busy workshop, designed tapestries for the Sistine Chapel, painted portraits of popes and friends, and was named architect of the new St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Leo X also asked him to record and protect the ruins of ancient Rome. Known for his charm and grace, he was admired by princes and fellow artists. He died in Rome on his thirty-seventh birthday in 1520, while finishing The Transfiguration, and was buried in the Pantheon.

Faith: Faith not well documented; he painted many religious works for the Catholic Church. Source: Wikipedia