Raphael (1483-1520) was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. In this volume, numerous large-sized illustrations showcase the artist's oeuvre; authoritative texts illustrate the decisive stages in the artist's life and in the development of his work, explaining their significance in the context of his time and for the following generations of artists.