This vivid, richly textured piece is entitled 'The Transfiguration.' It is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino - popularly known to the modern world as Raphael.
The painting is dated to 1516-20. It is tempera on wood and measures 159 in × 109 in. 'The Transfiguration' is currently located in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Vatican City, and for many centuries was said to be the most famous oil painting in the world.
From Das Wiki: "Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the later Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) and conceived as an altarpiece for the Narbonne Cathedral in France, Raphael worked on it until his death in 1520. The painting exemplifies Raphael's development as an artist and the culmination of his career. Unusually for a depiction of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art, the subject is combined with an additional episode from the Gospels in the lower part of the painting."
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. - Luke 24:46-53
This artwork is in the public domain.
