500th Anniversary of the Death of Raphael

A detail from the Madonna di Casa Santi, a 97 × 67 cm fresco dated to around 1498 and considered one of the very first works of the fifteen-year-old Raffaello Sanzio, preserved in the Casa Santi in Urbino. Along the upper right rim: the issuing state "SAN MARINO"; below it: the dates "1520" and "2020". The "R" mintmark of the Rome mint is to the left; the commemorative inscription "RAFFAELLO" appears below the design. The initials "A.M." of designer Annalisa Masini are at the lower right.

Raphael is regarded as one of the most formative artists of the High Renaissance - his influence on European painting and architecture extends far beyond his short life. Born in 1483 in Urbino as the son of the painter Giovanni Santi, he displayed extraordinary talent early on: the fresco "Madonna di Casa Santi," created around 1498 when Raphael was about fifteen years old, vividly demonstrates how early his compositional sense and mastery of figure depiction had already developed. The original is still housed today in the Casa Santi in Urbino, the artist's birthplace in the Marche region of central Italy. He later worked in Florence and finally in Rome, where he painted the famous Stanze in the Vatican Palace for Popes Julius II and Leo X - including "The School of Athens," which cemented his status as a master of Renaissance painting.

San Marino and Urbino are geographically close: the small principality lies less than thirty kilometres from Raphael's birthplace, which explains San Marino's affinity with the artist's legacy. Raffaello Sanzio died in Rome on 6 April 1520, at just 37 years old, leaving behind a body of work that shaped generations of painters and remains among the most visited holdings in Europe's great collections - from the Vatican Museums to the Uffizi and the National Gallery in London. On the 500th anniversary of Raphael's death in 2020, San Marino honoured the Renaissance master with its own issue.