Raffaello - Maria Lactans mit Engeln, 202

This drawing shows a seated Madonna holding the Christ Child to her breast in the 'Maria Lactans' posture. To the left, several figures of angels are sketched in, looking toward the central pair. The work is executed with rapid, loose lines, suggesting it was a preparatory study for a more finished composition.

Raphael's depictions of the Madonna exemplify the High Renaissance ideal of 'naturalism infused with divinity,' a concept rooted in the Neoplatonic belief that physical beauty is a manifestation of divine light. This synthesis of the human and the sacred was a core project of the thinkers in the orbit of the Medici and the Vatican.