Focus on The Raising of Lazarus (Sebastiano del Piombo) and discuss the Subject and description.
Lazarus's resurrection from the dead was the most frequently depicted of the miracles of Jesus in medieval and Renaissance art, as both the most remarkable and the easiest to recognize visually, because of the grave-cloths. As well as following the Transfiguration in traditional sequences of the Life of Christ in art, the subject was especially appropriate for the cathedral at Narbonne, which had relics of Lazarus. The Medici family, whose name means "doctors" in Italian, were often attracted to subjects showing Christ as a healer (or medicus).The account in Chapter 11 of the Gospel of John of the Raising of Lazarus from the dead is followed closely, though different moments in it are combined in the picture.  For Sebastiano and his contemporaries, Mary the sister of Lazarus of Bethany was the same person as Mary Magdalene, though today even the Catholic Church agrees with Protestants that Mary of Bethany was a separate person.  She is the figure kneeling in front of Christ, which in the gospels precedes the resurrection.The main moment shown is just after John 11:45 when : "Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go".  But in the upper left background a group of Jews and Pharisees are depicted discussing the event, which completes the story in the gospels.  The standing female in orange is Martha of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Mary; in the gospel, before the tomb is opened, she protests that the body will smell, and her gesture suggests she was right.The Twelve Apostles are crowded to the left of Christ and behind him.  The younger man standing at the left, seen in profile, is Saint John the Evangelist, and the bearded kneeling man at lower left is Saint Peter, given an orange overgarment, as often in art.  The others are probably not intended to be individually identifiable.  By this stage of the High Renaissance, not even Christ is given a halo, making it harder to pick out any specific individuals from the crowd that the gospel account mentions.  Michael Levey said the painting was "full of obvious portrait heads", but there has been much much less speculation as to the individuals with inserted likenesses than for Raphael's The School of Athens of a few years earlier.
The painting is signed in Latin "SEBASTIANVS. VENETVS. FACIE|BAT" ("Sebastian the Venetian made this") on the stone platform below Christ. Born Sebastiano Luciani, after coming to Rome he had become "Sebastiano Veneziano", until in 1531 he became the Keeper of the Seal to the Papacy, and so got the nickname del Piombo thereafter, meaning "of the lead", from his new job title.
The School of Athens Mary Magdalene Martha of Bethany Raphael Pharisees Saint Peter Gospel of John Twelve Apostles Lazarus Michael Levey Chapter 11 John the Evangelist Raising of Lazarus High Renaissance Lazarus of Bethany Narbonne Martha Life of Christ in art John 11 Mary of Bethany Sebastiano Medici miracles of Jesus Transfiguration halo