Raphael at the Met, Review: A Must-See Show the ‘Greatest Influencer’

Alex Greenberger | MSN | 26th April 2026

Critics don’t really review this show, they simply murmur reverences After apprenticing in Urbino and an uneventful stay in Florence, Raphael found fame in Papal Rome. His paintings, alongside drawings, tapestries and architecture, had “remarkable narrative force” and conveyed “an earthbound humanity that was [previously] missing”. Says the curator, he was fully the equal of Leonardo and Michelangelo.. Vasari, writing in 1550, said “nature created [Raphael] as a gift to the world”. Sounds about right.