Pala Baglioni

Raphael painted this Pala Baglioni (the Entombment) in 1507, now at the Galleria Borghese, his most ambitious panel painting from the Florentine period and the culmination of his engagement with the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo. Commissioned by Atalanta Baglioni of Perugia to commemorate her murdered son, the painting depicts the bearing of Christ's body to the tomb with a theatrical intensity that shows Raphael processing the influence of Michelangelo's Pietà and Ghirlandaio's Florentine altarpieces. The Borghese provenance reflects Cardinal Scipione Borghese's early 17th-century seizure of the painting from Perugia, provoking a diplomatic incident. The work's compositional ambition — the complex interaction of multiple grieving figures — marks a decisive step toward the monumentality of his Roman works.

Oil on panel with Raphael's characteristic balance of form, luminous coloring, and compositional harmony. The work demonstrates the artistic qualities characteristic of Raphael's mature period.