Study for Saint Ambrose and Peter Lombardus

This drawing depicts two ecclesiastical figures in miters, one gesturing upward and the other looking on, as Raphael developed their poses for the Vatican's Stanza della Segnatura. Between and below the figures, the artist has written several lines of poetry, showing his simultaneous engagement with visual and literary composition. The sketchy, energetic lines reveal the artist working through the expressive placement of the figures for a larger theological composition.

The figures belong to the 'Disputa', which represents the harmony of divine truth and human reason, a core tenet of Renaissance Neoplatonism. Peter Lombard, whose 'Sentences' was the standard medieval theological textbook, symbolizes the scholastic effort to reconcile faith with logic.