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Raphael and his workshop
Follow Raphael from early altarpieces to the papal apartment and his last painting.

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Church commissions and papal rooms
The Oddi Altarpiece was painted in 1502–1504. The Madonna of Foligno followed in 1511–1512, while Raphael was also working on the Vatican apartment. Each had a separate church destination. The palace walls asked for another kind of composition, with subjects extending across entire rooms rather than standing at a single altar.
The workshop continued
Raphael and his workshop decorated the papal apartment between 1508 and 1524. Those dates extend four years beyond his death. Assistants completed parts of the project, including work in the Hall of Constantine and the Room of the Fire in the Borgo. Two oil-on-wall figures in the Hall of Constantine are identified as Raphael's own work, so the room contains contributions from different stages of the project.
His final commission
Raphael painted the Transfiguration in 1516–1520 for a planned cathedral destination in Narbonne. After his death it remained in Rome. Its later journey brought it to the Vatican, where it now belongs to the same collection as the early Oddi painting.
Photo gallery 1
Image credits
- Fabrizio Garrisi · Statua di Nettuno, tipo Laterano. Museo Gregoriano Profano -FG2.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Miguel Hermoso Cuesta · Museo Pio-Cristiano sarcófago. 01.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Miguel Hermoso Cuesta · Bernini cabeza para la Cathedra Petri. 02.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Livioandronico2013 · Apollo del Belvedere.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- xiquinhosilva · 11859 - Vatican - Pius-Clementine Museum (3482088081).jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sailko · Vincent van gogh, pietà, 1890 ca..JPG (detail) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Deb Nystrom · Courtyard, Vatican Museum (45510285915).jpg · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Fabrizio Garrisi · 015- Galleria degli arazzi, Musei Vaticani -FG.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Alvesgaspar · Galleria delle carte geografiche (Vatican Museums) September 2015-5.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Gracchus Tiberius · Hall of Constantine Raphael rooms Vatican Museums.jpg · CC BY 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- 0ro1 · 8 Estancia de Heliodoro (Vista general I).jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- sailko · Appartamento borgia, 02.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Poiesia · Gold cross with geometric decoration, 7th–8th century. Christian Museum, Vatican Museums.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Deb Nystrom · Courtyard, Vatican Museum (45510285915).jpg (detail) · CC BY 2.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Miguel Hermoso Cuesta · Museo Pio-Cristiano sarcófago. 01.JPG (detail) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Miguel Hermoso Cuesta · Museo Pio-Cristiano sarcófago. 01.JPG (detail) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Diliff · Vatican Museum Queue - April 2007.jpg (detail) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Diliff · Vatican Museum Queue - April 2007.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Peter H. Feist · ROM - VATICAN - Giardino Quadrato - 89 - 063.24.jpg (detail) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Diego Delso · Museos Vaticanos, Ciudad del Vaticano, 2022-09-14, DD 50-52 HDR.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Joseolgon · Sarcophagus of Helena.jpg · CC BY 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sailko · Gold pectoral, Regolini-Galassi Tomb. Resized photograph. · CC BY 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Diego Delso · Ceiling of the Room of the Liberal Arts, Borgia Apartment. Resized and recompressed. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sailko · Disputation of Saint Catherine and ceiling decoration, Room of the Saints, Borgia Apartment. Resized and recompressed. · CC BY 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sailko · Resurrection with Alexander VI, Room of Mysteries, Borgia Apartment. Resized and recompressed. · CC BY 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sailko · Vincent van gogh, pietà, 1890 ca..JPG (detail) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF
- Sailko · Vincent van gogh, pietà, 1890 ca..JPG (detail) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / AVIF