After Raphael - A study for the upper part for 'The Transfiguration' c.1853-1876

This drawing depicts the central figures of the Transfiguration as nude studies, a common Renaissance practice to ensure anatomical accuracy before adding drapery. Christ is shown levitating with outstretched arms, flanked by the prophets Moses, who holds the tablets of the law, and Elijah. Below them, three apostles are shown in various states of agitation, shielding their eyes from the intense divine light.

The Transfiguration was a pivotal theme for Renaissance Neoplatonists like Marsilio Ficino, who interpreted the event as a manifestation of the soul's ascent to the intelligible realm. In this framework, the blinding light of Christ represents the 'splendor divinus' (divine splendor) that transforms the physical body into a spiritualized state, a concept also mirrored in alchemical notions of the 'body of light' or 'corpus glorificatum'.