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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis drawing consists of four separate figure studies used to plan a larger composition. On the left, a muscular man is captured in the act of striking while a woman turns away in a defensive pose; on the right, the artist focuses on the powerful musculature of a pair of legs in motion and a twisted upper body. The red chalk captures the tension and physical strain of the figures through precise lines and soft shading.
These studies reflect the Renaissance principle of 'disegno,' where the meticulous study of human anatomy was used to express the divine order and the inner movements of the soul. This approach was heavily influenced by Neoplatonism, which viewed the human body as a microcosm of the universe's mathematical and aesthetic harmony.
Leon Battista Alberti
Raphael's approach to the movement of the body and the depiction of emotion through physical gesture follows the principles laid out in Alberti's 'De Pictura'.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/ "Raffaello Santi" (KÜNSTLER_IN) Graphische Sammlung (Sammlung)
850 × 502 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on March 31, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.