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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileA group of Nine Apostles gathers on the left, gesturing with confusion and pointing towards a scene of distress on the right. A young boy in the throes of a convulsion is held by his father while a kneeling woman in the foreground directs the viewer's attention to the child's suffering. The dramatic use of light and shadow emphasizes the chaotic emotional state of the figures in this earthly realm.
This work embodies the High Renaissance Neoplatonic contrast between the chaotic material world and the divine spiritual realm. It illustrates the human soul's dependency on divine light (represented by the Transfigured Christ in the missing upper half) to overcome the darkness of physical and spiritual affliction.
Marsilio Ficino
Raphael's composition reflects Ficino's Neoplatonic theories concerning the hierarchy of light and the soul's struggle to ascend from the material to the divine.
Matthew 17:14–21
The biblical source text describing the Apostles' failure to heal the demoniac boy due to their lack of faith.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
11647 - Vatican - Pinacoteca
800 × 600 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.