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About This Work
The upper portion, painted by Raphael, features Christ in Majesty seated on clouds, flanked by six seated saints and topped by the Holy Spirit and the Alpha and Omega. Below, completed by Perugino, the Virgin and Child sit in a niche flanked by six standing saints including St. Jerome and St. Gregory the Great. The composition establishes a rigid celestial hierarchy, moving from the divine source at the top down to the communal saints of the Church.
The work reflects the Renaissance preoccupation with celestial hierarchies as described in Neoplatonic Christian texts like Pseudo-Dionysius's 'The Celestial Hierarchy.' The inclusion of the Alpha and Omega symbols emphasizes the divine as the Monad—the beginning and end of all emanated existence.