Raphael (Raffaello Santi or Sanzio/Sanzi) (1483-1520). Italian painter, illustrator and architect, born in Urbino in the Marche region, the seat of the condottiere (army commander) Federico da Montefeltro, a great admirer of art. Raphael died in Rome at age 37 on his birthday. He was buried in the Pantheon at his own request. See "The Opening of Raphael's Grave in Pantheon 1833". 
Raphael's father, the artist Giovanni di Sanati, a man of culture and in contact with the artistic ideas, gave his son instructions in painting and introduced him to the humanistic philosophy and artist at the Federico's court e.g.: Luca Signorelli, Paolo Ucello, Hieronymus Bosch, Bramante, Piero della Francesca and Leon Battista Alberti. At the age of 16 Raphael went to Perugia, where he became apprenticed to Pietro Perugino. The stylistic characteristics which he had acquired from Perugino, such as clear organization of the composition and the avoidance of excessive details, also provided useful means through which to express the new spirit of the High Renaissance.
In 1504 Raphael moved to Florence where his masters were Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. In Florence Raphael executed a great series of Madonna paintings particularly influenced by Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna and Child theme", his lighting technique sfumato, and his way of building up his compositions in depth with pyramidal figure masses. From Michelangelo Raphael learned the expressive possibilities of human anatomy.
At the request of Pope Julius II Raphael moved to Rome in 1508 and remained there for the rest of his life. His first task in the Vatican was to paint a cycle of frescoes in the Pope's private rooms, the three Stanzas (= Raphael's Rooms). The Stanzas were an apotheosis of the universality of St Peter's Basilica: faith/knowledge, the old and new history of Christendom, the antique culture. 
In 1513 (during Pope Leo X's reign) Raphael worked with Bramante at the St Peter's Basilica, after Bramantes dead, Raphael became the leader of the building project. Leo X commissioned Raphael to design 10 large tapestries to hang on the walls of the Sistine Chapel, 1519.

I N.F.S. Grundtvigs salme fra 1853, "Med strålekrans om tinde" står om Jesu forvandling på bjerget:
v1 "Med strålekrans om tinde forklaret Jesus stod" ...
v2 "Han stod på Tabors Høje, den Guds og Davids søn, som solen var hans øje, som lys hans klædning skøn." 

Nedenfor bjerget ses disciple og en folkemængde og blandt dem den vantro barnefader med sin epileptiske (månesyge) søn, som Jesus helbredte.

"Forklarelsen på bjerget" var Rafaels sidste arbejde, som han efterlod ufærdigt, og det menes at være fuldendt af hans elev manieristen Giulio Romano. Raphael har ikke blot malet "Forklarelsen på bjerget", men kædet den sammen med "Helbredelsen af den månesyge dreng".

Billedet blev i 1516 bestilt til Skt. Just katedralen i Narbonne af Giulio de Medici, men Rafaels død før værket var fuldendt medførte at Giulio de Medici, i stedet for at sende værket til Frankrig, donerede det til katedralen San Pietro in Montorio i Rom. 1797 blev værket bragt til Paris af franske tropper, og efter 1815 kom det tilbage til Rom og dets nuværende placering i Vatikanmuseerne.

Den 14. september 1833, efter ordre fra pave Gregor XVI, blev Rafaels grav i Pantheon åbnet i overværelse af gejstlige og kunstnere med det formål at kontrollere om Rafael virkelig var begravet der. Blandt deltagerne ved ceremonien var bl.a. Bertel Thorvaldsen (med det hvide hår), der står til højre for kardinalen, pavens repræsentent. Skelettet som graven indeholdt blev fastslået af tilstedeværende læger at være Rafaels jordiske rester.

"The Opening of Raphael's Grave in Pantheon 1833", executed by the Italian painter Francesco Diofebi (1781-1851), Thorvaldsens Museum. Bertel Thorvaldsen (with the white hair) was among the participants at the ceremony.