The Raising of Lazarus

Christ raises his hand and calls, and Lazarus - four days dead - heaves back to life at the right, still tangled in his shroud, his muscles straining as attendants unwind him and the crowd recoils from the stench (John 11). Sebastiano del Piombo, a Venetian in Rome, painted it as a deliberate challenge to Raphael, both pictures commissioned by the same cardinal for the same French cathedral. His secret weapon was Michelangelo, who supplied drawings for the powerful figures - Venetian color married to Florentine muscle. Raphael's answering Transfiguration is elsewhere in this collection; the two were meant to be judged side by side.