Marguerite d'Antioche Raphael

A young woman with a halo is shown in a dark landscape, holding a small crucifix in her left hand. Below her, the massive coils of a dragon wrap around the frame, its mouth wide open to reveal a red interior. She remains calm and poised, symbolizing her miraculous escape from the beast's stomach.

This work illustrates the subduing of the monstrous or chaotic, a theme equated in Neoplatonic and alchemical circles with the purification of the soul from the 'beast' of material desire. The dragon serves as a classic emblem of the adversarial forces or 'prima materia' encountered during the spiritual ascent.