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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis delicate sketch captures the rounded features and soft, curly hair of an infant. The child's gaze is directed down, conveying a sense of quiet contemplation or humility. The artist uses fine lines and subtle hatching to define the volume of the head and the texture of the hair.
Raphael's studies of infants were often intended for depictions of the Christ Child or putti, where physical beauty was a vehicle for expressing Neoplatonic ideals of divine grace. This focus on the idealized human form reflects the Renaissance belief, championed by thinkers like Marsilio Ficino, that earthly beauty is a reflection of celestial harmony.
R. V.
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino's Neoplatonic theories regarding the divine nature of beauty and the 'splendor of the divine countenance' influenced the idealization of figures in High Renaissance art.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://online-sammlung.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/de/suche?term=raffael
2000 × 1794 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.