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50 free Raphael trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Raphael died at 37 on Good Friday, possibly his birthday, and was buried in the Pantheon at his own request. In a dozen Roman years he frescoed the pope's library, designed the Sistine tapestries, took over St Peter's from Bramante, ran a workshop of fifty, and kept a baker's daughter as his constant companion. These 50 questions cover the life and the work: Urbino and the court painter father, the Perugino apprenticeship, the Florentine years under Leonardo's spell, and the summons from Julius II. You will get The School of Athens in detail (Plato's book, Michelangelo's varicose veins, the self-portrait beside Ptolemy), the Sistine Madonna's journey to Dresden and Moscow, the Transfiguration contest with Sebastiano del Piombo, the Raphael Cartoons in London, La Fornarina's armband, and Michelangelo's bitter claim that everything Raphael knew he got from him. Easy questions cover the trinity and the Pantheon; the hard tier asks about obelisks, Città di Castello and the Latin tondo above the fresco. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which small Italian city was Raphael born in 1483?
Urbino
His father Giovanni Santi was court painter to the Duke there.
Q 02With which two artists does Raphael form the High Renaissance trinity of masters?
Leonardo and Michelangelo
Leonardo was thirty years older; Michelangelo was just eight years his senior and came to loathe him.
Q 03Raphael's best-known work, The School of Athens, is in which Vatican room?
Stanza della Segnatura
It was intended as Julius II's private library and was the first of the Raphael Rooms painted.
Q 04How old was Raphael when he died on 6 April 1520?
37
Vasari claimed he was born and died on Good Friday, and blamed exhaustion from 'unceasing romantic interests'.
Q 05Which pope invited Raphael to Rome in 1508?
Julius II
He was set to fresco the pope's private library, probably on Bramante's suggestion.
Q 06Under which Umbrian master did Raphael most probably train?
Pietro Perugino
Vasari said their hands were indistinguishable; Raphael was called a 'master' by December 1500.
Q 07Which two philosophers stand at the centre of The School of Athens?
Plato and Aristotle
One points to the heavens and holds the Timaeus; the other gestures to earth with his Ethics.
Q 08Which artist is believed to be portrayed as Plato in The School of Athens?
Leonardo da Vinci
Raphael put himself beside Ptolemy; Michelangelo appears as a brooding Heraclitus.
Q 09As which philosopher did Raphael paint Michelangelo in The School of Athens?
Heraclitus
A vascular surgeon later noted the figure shows varicose veins in the legs.
Q 10Beside which ancient figure did Raphael place himself in The School of Athens?
Ptolemy
The white-robed figure who stares at the viewer is often read as Hypatia or the pope's nephew.
Q 11Which Latin tondo label, 'knowledge of causes', sits above The School of Athens?
Causarum Cognitio
The wall represents philosophy; the traditional title is not Raphael's own.
Q 12Which book does Raphael put in Plato's hand in The School of Athens?
Timaeus
Aristotle, beside him, carries his Ethics.
Q 13Which fresco on the opposite wall from The School of Athens represents theology?
La Disputa
It was finished first, followed by the Parnassus for literature.
In which German city does the Sistine Madonna hang?
Q 21Which rival painted The Raising of Lazarus in competition with Raphael's last altarpiece?
Sebastiano del Piombo
Michelangelo supplied drawings but refused to paint it himself.
Q 22Which London institution has displayed the Raphael Cartoons on loan since 1865?
Victoria and Albert Museum
They belong to the Royal Collection; Charles I bought them from Genoa in 1623.
Q 23How many of the ten Raphael Cartoons survive?
Seven
They show scenes from the lives of Saints Peter and Paul for Sistine Chapel tapestries.
Dresden
Augustus III of Poland bought it in 1754 and reportedly moved his throne to display it better.
Q 15Which detail of the Sistine Madonna became famous in its own right as a popular image?
The two winged putti at the bottom
They rest on their elbows beneath the Madonna, Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara.
Q 16For which Piacenza church was the Sistine Madonna commissioned in 1512?
San Sisto
Julius II ordered it in honour of his uncle Pope Sixtus IV.
Q 17Where was the Sistine Madonna kept for a decade after World War II?
Moscow
It travelled in a box on a tented flatcar before returning to Dresden.
Q 18Who reportedly cried 'And I also, I am a painter!' on first seeing the Sistine Madonna?
Correggio
The legend is recorded on the painting's history pages; Vasari called it 'a truly rare and extraordinary work'.
Q 19What was Raphael's last painting, unfinished at his death?
The Transfiguration
It was conceived as an altarpiece for Narbonne Cathedral and is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana.
Q 20Which cardinal, later Pope Clement VII, commissioned Raphael's last altarpiece?
Giulio de' Medici
He paired it against Sebastiano del Piombo's Raising of Lazarus, drawn with Michelangelo's help.
Q 24In which city were the Sistine tapestries woven from Raphael's cartoons?
Brussels
The weaving cost 15,000 ducats against Raphael's fee of 1,000.
Q 25The Raphael Cartoons were once described as the what 'of modern art'?
Parthenon sculptures
Admiration peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries through prints.
Q 26Who was 'La Fornarina', Raphael's long-term lover in Rome?
Margherita Luti
Her nickname means baker's daughter; her father Francesco was a baker from Siena.
Q 27What signature is engraved on the armband in the portrait La Fornarina?
Raphael Vrbinas
An overpainted ruby ring on her finger has fuelled talk of a secret marriage.
Q 28Which Rome palace houses La Fornarina?
Palazzo Barberini
The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica owns it; two copies hang in the Borghese.
Q 29To whose niece was Raphael reluctantly engaged from 1514?
Cardinal Bibbiena
Maria Bibbiena died in 1520 without the wedding ever taking place.
Q 30Where was Raphael buried at his own request?
The Pantheon
He died on Good Friday 1520, possibly his 37th birthday.