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About This Work
A radiant Christ levitates against a backdrop of luminous clouds, flanked by Moses holding the tablets and Elijah. Below them on the mount, the apostles Peter, James, and John are shown recoiling or shielding their eyes from the blinding divine light. The composition emphasizes a stark contrast between the serene celestial realm above and the dramatic reactions of the figures on earth.
As Raphael's final masterpiece, this work exemplifies the Renaissance synthesis of Christian theology and Neoplatonic light metaphysics. It visualizes the concept of the 'lumen divinum,' where the soul's ascent toward the divine is marked by an overwhelming encounter with intellectual and spiritual radiance, a core theme in the works of Marsilio Ficino.
Connected Texts
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino's Neoplatonic treatises on light, such as De Lumine, describe divine radiance as a medium of spiritual transformation similar to the visual depiction in this scene.