The Transfiguration

Raphael's final painting, unfinished at his death aged 37 and carried in his funeral procession. Two scenes collide vertically: the radiant Christ levitating on Mount Tabor above, and the chaotic, shadowed scene below where the apostles fail to heal a possessed boy. The contrast — divine light versus human helplessness — was revolutionary and became a template for the Baroque. The lower half was likely finished by Giulio Romano from Raphael's drawings; you can see a rougher, more anxious hand. This is the painting that convinced Vasari the age of Raphael had ended.