1483-04-06

RAPHAEL, Italian Renaissance painter and architect born (d. 1520); Almost every Renaissance painter has been thought to be homosexual by one writer or another over the years, and Raphael, “the divine painter” is no exception.

The clues, however, may be purely coincidental in Raphael’s case. (1) As a young man he was exceedingly beautiful. (2) As an adult he lived together with his two favorite students, Giulio Romano, reputed to be bisexual, and Gianfrancesco Penni. (3) When he died at 37, he left the larger part of his estate to the two young men. (4) As the New York Times would have put it, “he never married.” Reach your own conclusions.