According to Vasari, Raphael was a "very amorous man and affectionate towards the

ladies". He is said to have painted portraits of his mistress and to have assigned

the engraver il Baviera to serve as her page. When commissioned by Agostino Chigi to

decorate the Villa Farnesina, he was unable to dedicate himself properly to his work due to

his infatuation - until she was allowed to come to live at his side. Again, according to Vasari,

it was Raphael's immoderate indulgence in "amorous pleasures", one day taken to excess,

that brought on the fever which led to the young artist's death in 1520. Although in

the Pantheon he lies beside his fiancée Maria, daughter of his patron Bernardo Dovizi,

Raphael had long delayed his marriage; on his deathbed he sent his mistress away "with the

means to live an honest life".

La Donna Velata may not be Raphael's most famous painting to the layman, but it's

considered to be in par with Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Margherita Luti (la Donna Velata) is the

same model as his painting, "La Fornarina"

Raphael--La Donna Velata)”,