Containing works made for both religious and domestic settings by Italian
Renaissance artists, this room is named for the painter Raphael (1483–1520) who has long been celebrated as exemplifying Renaissance grace and elegance. Isabella Gardner hung two paintings by Raphael here: a small panel from an altarpiece made early in his career and a portrait painted in his maturity. Two large wedding chests (cassoni in Italian) are placed against the walls of this room, as they would have been in an affluent Renaissance domestic interior.