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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThe composition features a priest at a central, elevated altar performing the Mass within a classical semicircular choir. To the right, Pope Julius II and his attendants kneel in prayer, while Swiss Guards and various townspeople observe the miracle from the steps and background. This work is a compositional study or copy related to Raphael's fresco in the Stanza d'Eliodoro of the Vatican.
This scene depicts a central tenet of Catholic dogma, the doctrine of transubstantiation, which mirrors the alchemical and philosophical concern with the 'transformation of substance.' It represents the intersection of divine intervention and material reality, a theme central to Renaissance natural philosophy regarding the nature of matter.
Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas composed the Office for the Feast of Corpus Christi, the liturgical celebration of the miracle depicted in this scene.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://collections.ashmolean.org/
800 × 505 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on March 31, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.