It shows the Lord in a nimbus of bright light, raised in the air with the prophet Elias and Moses, the lawgiver, while the three favored apostles, Peter, James and John gaze on this heavenly scene from earth, wishing that it would last for eternity.

The upper portion of the picture reveals the tranquil ecstasy, the celestial serenity and peace the Lord grants only to those who are with Him and who want to be with Him.

The lower part contrasts strongly with the upper. The figures are agitated, they look at the possessed boy whose father is holding.

All are troubled, and they seem to be seeking a human solution to ills of the spirit. Only an apostle, indicating the Lord on the Mount reminds them, the disheartened and discouraged, of the source of salvation.

 In the middle, the kneeling woman symbolizes the Church and its task of bringing peace, hope and faith to the victims of evil. Raphael died young, he was only 37. In his final delirium he asked to see his painting for the last
time. His friends brought it to him, and placed it on the bed in which in died on Good Friday, 1520.

The same painting was carried at the the head of the funeral procession to the Pantheon where the great artist is buried and awaits his own transfiguration.