Raphael
By the end of 1508, Raphael had moved to Rome, where he lived for the rest of his life. He was invited by the new Pope Julius II, perhaps at the suggestion of his architect Donato Bramante, then engaged on St. Peter's Basilica, who came from just outside Urbino and was distantly related to Raphael. Unlike Michelangelo, who had been kept lingering in Rome for several months after his first summons, Raphael was immediately commissioned by Julius to fresco what was intended to become the Pope's private library at the Vatican Palace. This was a much larger and more important commission than any he had received before; he had only painted one altarpiece in Florence itself. Several other artists and their teams of assistants were already at work on different rooms, many painting over recently completed paintings commissioned by Julius's loathed predecessor, Alexander VI, whose contributions, and arms, Julius was determined to efface from the palace. Michelangelo, meanwhile, had been commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Raphael Coxie
Details about the life and career of the artist are sketchy. He was only rediscovered as a distinctive artist in the 19th century as it was earlier believed that Raphael Coxie was another name for Michiel Coxie, one of the leading Flemish Renaissance painters who was known in his time as the 'Flemish Raphael'. It is assumed that Raphael Coxie was born in Mechelen as the eldest son of Michiel Coxie by his first wife Ida van Hasselt. The time of birth was likely between 1539, the year of his father's return from Italy, and 1543, the year his father was registered in the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke and declared to have a son named Raphael. Raphael Coxie is said to have been given his first name because of the admiration of his father for the Italian painter known by that name. He was the older brother of Anna and Willem and half brother of Michiel the Younger. Anna was a sculptor and later became a nun while Willem and Michiel the Younger were painters.