Raphael mastered painting so quickly that he surpassed his teacher Perugino while still a teenager. His 'School of Athens' fresco in the Vatican's Stanza della Segnatura gathered every great philosopher in one imagined space, with Plato and Aristotle at the center. His Madonnas defined the ideal of serene beauty for centuries. He died on his 37th birthday in 1520, and Rome mourned as if a prince had fallen. His Vatican Rooms remain the highest achievement of High Renaissance painting.