The Transfiguration

Christ's white clothing catches the light at the top of the Transfiguration. Below, a crowd gathers around a boy whose body twists and whose arm reaches upwards. Raphael placed two successive episodes from Matthew's Gospel in one painting. Above, Christ appears in glory between Moses and Elijah, prophets from the Hebrew Bible. Below, his followers face a child they cannot yet heal. Let your eyes settle on each group before trying to take in the whole painting. Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later Pope Clement VII, commissioned the work for Narbonne cathedral in France. Raphael painted it between 1516 and 1520. It was his last painting. After his death it stayed in Rome and later stood over the high altar of San Pietro in Montorio. Taken to Paris in 1797, it entered the Vatican collection on its return in 1816. The Gospel story continues beyond the moment shown below, with Christ returning from the mountain to cure the child.