基督变容

木板油画

410×279厘米

罗马，梵蒂冈博物馆收藏

1519-1520年

这是拉斐尔最伟大的杰作，也是他临终前的最后一件作品。这件作品本来是由将要成为教皇克莱门特七世的红衣主教朱里奥·德·美第奇向拉斐尔为纳博讷大教堂订购的，但最终这幅作品被留在了罗马的蒙托里奥圣彼得教堂。它在拿破仑时期被带到了巴黎，又于1816年被送返梵蒂冈。因此我们可以总结岀这幅作品的简单历史，这段历史也见证着画家生命的最后时刻。

瓦萨里认为拉斐尔并没有完成这幅画，还打算为作品里基督的变容形象画最后几笔，然而那时他病了，不幸罹患疟疾。152。年4月6日，就在他三十七年前岀生的同一天，拉斐尔因病故去，葬礼在罗马的万神殿举行。在拉斐尔如今也依旧躺在里面的大理石棺椁上，他的朋友诗人彼得•本博以拉丁文为他撰写了墓志铭："他在世，自然恐被其征服。他死了，自然恐随他而逝。"优雅的辞藻精准简练地概括了画家的一生，他是伟大的艺术家，无论是他同时代的人曾经相信着的，还是我们将一直相信的。

作品取材于圣经故事，图像被分为两部分。下半部分是魔鬼掌控了一个男孩，而围绕着他的男男女女都处于不安与混乱之中。上半部分描绘了变容的基督在摩西与以利亚之间，下半部分的构图中使用了暗色调和戏剧化的现实主义风格，并大胆运用明暗对比，几乎具有卡拉瓦乔的风格。光芒即是救赎者耶稣的语言，也因此耶稣面部的光芒闪耀如日中空。

在这幅拉斐尔作品中典型的神圣主题画作中，可谓包罗万象。这幅作品有人类的热情，恐惧，情感冲突（前景中激动的人群）；有无限的世界中的瑰丽景观（他泊山后罗马的日落，耶稣变容的山峰）；在画作中有一种抚慰人心的美，具有温暖人心的力量，让观众感到生命的喜悅。

The Transfiguration

painting on wood

410×279 cm

Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana

1519-1520

This is Raphael's greatest masterpiece, and also his final work. It was originally destined for Narbonne Cathedral. Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who would become Pope Clement VII, it ended up in Rome, at the church of San Pietro in Montorio. Taken to Paris by the Napoleonic French, it returned to the Vatican in 1816. Thus we can sum up the essential history of this painting, which was with the painter during the final days of his life.

Vasari says that Raphael left the picture unfinished, still planning the final brushstrokes for the face of the Transfigured Christ. Then he became ill, struck down with malarial fever, and died on 6 April 1520, the same day on which he had been born thirty-seven years earlier. The funeral was held in Rome, at the Pantheon, where Raphael still lies today in a marble casket upon which his friend, the poet Pietro Bembo, placed two verses in Latin which read :＇Nature feared to be conquered during his life, and fears to die now that he is dead＇. These beautiful words elegantly and brilliantly sum up the destiny of a painter who was - as his contemporaries believed, and as we continue to believe - the greatest of all time.

The sacred image is divided into two parts. Below is the boy possessed by demons, amidst the turmoil of the men and women surrounding him. Above is the Transfigured Christ, between Moses and Elijah. The lower part of the composition is characterised by dark tones and dramatic realism, almost Caravaggesque, thanks to bold use of chiaroscuro. Meanwhile, light triumphs above. Light is the language of Christ the Saviour, and thus his face shines like the midday sun.

Standing before this painting, one comprehends the essence of life. One comprehends that Raphael is like a mirror that reflects both the world of God and that of the man. In this sublime example of Raphael's painting, there is everything. T here are human passions, fears, emotional conflicts(the agitated group of men and women in the foreground);there is the infinite splendour of the visible world(the Roman sunset behind Mount Tabor, the Mount of the Transfiguration);there is a beauty that consoles us, that warms our hearts and, at least for a moment, makes us feel happy to be alive to see all this.