Raffaello sanzio, visione di ezechiele, 1516-18 ca. 01

A muscular, bearded figure of the deity descends from a golden sky with arms outstretched, flanked by two small putti. He is borne aloft by the four living creatures described in the biblical vision, appearing over a turbulent cloudscape. In the lower-left corner, a tiny figure of Ezekiel stands in a vast landscape, illuminated by a single shaft of light breaking through the storm.

This work depicts the 'Merkavah' or Chariot of God, a central image in Jewish Kabbalah and Christian mysticism. During the Renaissance, this vision was frequently analyzed by Neoplatonists like Pico della Mirandola as a symbol of the soul's ascent and the hierarchical structure of the divine cosmos.