Raphael, The Transfiguration

Raphael, The Transfiguration

The artwork Transfiguration by Raphael is believed to have begun in 1516 and was thought to have been completed by Raphael's art student Giulio Romano in 1520 after Raphael's untimely death. Cardinal Giulio de'Medici (later Pope Clement VII) commissioned Raphael to paint the Transfiguration for the city of Narbonne in France. The painting was personally held by the Pope until Raphael's timeless death, when he donated it to the San Pietro church in Rome. The painting is now housed in the Vatican Museums.

This artistic composition is divided into two distinct parts. The Transfiguration is related to the successive stories in the Gospel of Matthew. The upper part of the painting depicts Christ rising in front of billowing, illuminated clouds, with the prophets Elijah and Moses on either side. In the lower part of the painting, the apostles are portrayed unsuccessfully attempting to free a possessed child from demons. The upper part shows a transfigured Christ who appears to be performing a miracle, healing the child and saving him from evil.

At its most evident level, the painting can be interpreted as a division between the flaws of the men depicted in the lower half and the redemptive power of Christ in the upper half. On the left side of Christ, there are two figures kneeling: the deacon martyrs Saint Agapitus and Saint Felicissimus, who were captured during the persecution by Emperor Valerian.

The dimensions of the Transfiguration are 159 inches by 109 inches. Raphael preferred to paint on canvas, but this painting was executed on wood with oil paints as the chosen medium. In this painting, Raphael actually demonstrated advanced signs of the Mannerism and Baroque period techniques.

The stylized, contorted poses of the figures in the lower half demonstrate Mannerism. The liberal use of dramatic tension and contrasts of light and darkness, or chiaroscuro, in these figures represent the Baroque period's exaggerated movement, aiming to create drama, tension, enthusiasm, or illumination. Raphael's death came too soon, as he was ahead of his time in the era of the Transfiguration, showing signs of the development of Mannerism and Baroque techniques.