Ecole-Athenes-carton-Ambrosiana-4

This charcoal and chalk drawing is a section of the full-scale cartoon used to plan Raphael's Vatican fresco. The figure on the left gazes directly at the observer, while the bearded man on the right is captured in a state of contemplation. The visible grid lines across the paper were used by the artist to scale and transfer the composition onto the final architectural surface.

This work represents the Renaissance ideal of 'prisca theologia,' the belief in a single, ancient theology that connects all great religions and philosophies. The figures here are widely identified as the Neoplatonists Hypatia and Plotinus, whose works were central to the philosophical revival in 15th and 16th-century Italy.