Raphael in about 1515 paints part of a third room, the Stanza dell'Incendio, named after its main fresco, the Fire in the Borgo.

When Pope Leo X was elected in 1512, the courtier and author Baldassare Castiglione had been sent to Rome as an ambassador of the duke of Urbino.

In Rome he has formed friendships with many artists and writers; among these, Raphael, a native of Urbino, had soon become a close friend, frequently asking for his suggestions.

Raphael gratefully paints a famous portrait of Castiglione, now at the Louvre.

A famous papal portrait of this period is Raphael's “Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de'Medici and Luigi de'Rossi.” Among the great religious works painted in Rome by Raphael on canvas or panel are the “Alba Madonna,” the “Sistine Madonna,” the “Madonna of the Chair,” and the “Transfiguration,” the last executed in part by Giulio Romano, one of the most gifted of Raphael's numerous assistants and pupils.

Raphael yn 1515-16 paints ten large cartoons, executed in watercolor on paper, illustrating the Acts of the Apostles as designs for tapestries to be hung in the Sistine Chapel.

His own drawings, and engravings of his work by Marcantonio Raimondi, serve to further burnish Raphael's reputation.