Raffaello - Draperiestudie (Studie zur Rückenfigur der Muse für den Parnass, Stanza della Segnatura, Vatikan), 219v

This pen-and-ink drawing captures a female figure in a complex, twisting pose, viewed from the back with her head tilted to the side. The artist focuses intensely on the heavy, sculptural folds of the garment and how they define the underlying form of the body. It is a working sketch used to refine the appearance of one of the Muses for a major Vatican mural.

The figure is a study for the 'Parnassus' fresco, which represents the Neoplatonic ideal of divine inspiration and the harmony of the arts. Within the Stanza della Segnatura, this imagery illustrates the faculty of Poetry as a bridge between the human mind and divine truth, a central theme in Renaissance natural philosophy.