Raphael's "Transfiguration"

This was the high renaissance painter, Raphael's own favorite painting. It is said to have been brought to his deathbed at his request so that he could gaze upon it with his last breath.

The Transfiguration was completed in 1520, right before Raphael's death.

Like Raphael's treatment of "The Deposition" in which he combined the "Descent from the Cross" with "The Entombment," he also combines two subject matters in this painting, featuring "The Transfiguration of Christ" to the deciples on Mt. Tabor above with the story of the apostles' failure to cure a possessed boy until the transfigured Christ intervenes, below.

According to Goethe: "The two are one: below suffering, need, above, effective power, succour. Each bearing on the other, both interacting with one another."

The woman in the light pink and blue is painted once again by Raphael in the figura serpentina pose, extreme contraposto or "S" shape that acts as a link between subject matter.  She also appears in The Deposition.  In the same year, Michelangelo used this same figure, in the same pose in the Doni Tondo. I've referenced the latter two in a previous post.

The Deposition

Caravaggio

The Deposition (1602 – 1603)

Known for this most extreme form of Chiaroscuro (light-dark) painting – also called tenebrism, Caravaggio's subjects seem to emerge from complete blackness to be illuminated by some unseen, internal light source to create a hyper realism.

His actual name was Michelangelo; he was from Caravaggio and he followed Michelangelo in history, marking the beginning of the Baroque era.

Caravaggio lived life hard & fast. Presumably, he killed possibly 2 men and was constantly on the run, fleeing to Naples and was thought to embody/create the Neapolitan style of painting at the time.  Caravaggio lived among lower classes and used prostitutes and peasants for religious models, causing consternation with the church.

Died in obscurity and was thrown in a pauper’s pit.  Caravaggio was 38.

Baroque painting relied heavily on foreshortening to eliminate the barrier between the subject and the viewer.  Ordinarily, there was a predella or other pediment that separated you from the subject.  Foreshortening draws the viewer into the painting to experience the event first hand, also a hallmark of the baroque era which could arguably be a natural result of the reformation in which people were encouraged to have a closer, less impeded relationship with religion.

The reason I mentioned Caravaggio's wild life, is because his personal life is reflected in and defines his style of painting - an unknown lights source that emerges from the depths of darkness.

Raphael

The Deposition or Entombment (1507)

While not entirely the composition of the typical "Deposition" or "Entombment" genre, this painting by Raphael is somewhere in between.  As a follower of Michelangelo, Raphael uses some of the postures most notably invented by Michelangelo.  See the contorted twist and turn of Mary tending to the virgin Mary in the lower right.  (This pose is called "The Swoon of Mary")  Not only is this a physically impossible pose, it is nearly identical to the muscular virgin of the Doni Tondo (below) of the same date.  This pose is called Figura Serpentina.

Raphael's Deposition/Entombment contains some of unnatural poses, strange body placement (see the legs below Christ) which gives the subject matter a mystical, pre-baroque quality, aligned with the religious beliefs at the time. 

Doni Tondo, Michaelangelow (1507)