Raffael - Umkreis - Handstudien, um 1500

This drawing consists of two anatomical studies rendered in pen and ink with light wash. The upper hand is shown with an open, slightly cupped palm, while the lower hands are pressed together in a traditional posture of devotion or supplication. The sketches focus on the precise articulation of the fingers and the play of light over the skin's surface.

These studies reflect the High Renaissance preoccupation with the harmony of the human body, viewed through a Neoplatonic lens as a microcosm of the universe. In the circle of Raphael, anatomical precision was not merely a technical exercise but a method to reveal the inherent logic and divine proportions of nature.