French school, follower of Raphael (1483-1520): The transfiguration of Jesus, oil on canvas, 17th C.

Work: 123 x 75 cm

Frame: 139 x 91 cm

Ref.:

- This composition taken from 'The transfiguration' by Raffaello Sanzio, nowadays part of the collection of the Musei Vaticani. This altarpiece illustrates two episodes narrated in succession in the Gospel according to Matthew: the transfiguration above, with Christ in glory between the prophets Moses and Elijah, and below, in the foreground, the meeting of the apostles with the obsessed youth who will be miraculously cured by Christ on his return from Mount Tabor (in our version only the top part is shown). This is Raphael's last painting and appears as the spiritual testament of the artist. The work is considered in his biography, written by the famous artist and biographer of the 16th C., Giorgio Vasari, 'the most famous, the most beautiful and most divine'. (link)