The Deposition of Christ by Raphael

The beginning of the 1500's must have been an exciting time for people fond of art. At least if you lived in what was the cultural center of Europe at the time, namely Florence, Italy. From here Leonardo da Vinci revolutionized art with his invention of sfumato, Michelangelo impressed even the powerful Pope Julius II with his mastery of the human form, and Raphael found a way to create arrangements of moving figures that were perfectly balanced, and told a story like none other had been able to before him.