Gianfrancesco Penni
Born in Florence to a family of weavers, Penni entered Raphael's workshop very early in his life, and collaborated with him on several works, including the famous Rooms of the Vatican Palace, as well as the frescoes of Villa Farnesina, both in Rome. Heinrich Wölfflin and some other writers credited him with the entire execution of the Raphael Cartoons, with Raphael only creating the initial design, though more recent writers believe Raphael did much of the work himself.
Raphael Coxie
He was a pupil of his father and became master in the Mechelen Guild of Saint Luke in 1562. He is documented as residing in Mechelen up to the early 1580s. His first wife Jeanne van Bekercke was buried in Mechelen in 1577 and he then married Elisabeth Cauthals who also died. He moved to Antwerp some time between 1581 and 1585 where he became master in the local Guild of St. Luke in 1585. He had by that time married a third time. His last wife was Anna Jonghelinck and a son of theirs was baptized in Antwerp on 20 January 1585.
Raphael was a passionate gardener and friend of the Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius to whom he sent drawings of flowers, which Clusius used in his scientific publications. After the Fall of Antwerp in 1585 he was commissioned to make the painting of the retable of the Virgin Mary for the altar of the Confrerie of Our Lady in the Antwerp Cathedral. He executed the painting in collaboration with Hans Vredeman de Vries, who was responsible for the architectonic elements of the composition.