Recto The Death of Meleager or the Death of Adonis

This pen-and-ink drawing depicts the physical strain of mourning as several figures struggle to transport a limp corpse. The central figure's body sags with the weight of death, a composition Raphael adapted from classical Roman sarcophagi. A detached study of a bearded man's head appears on the right side of the sheet, unrelated to the primary narrative scene.

This study illustrates how Renaissance artists integrated classical funerary motifs into Western visual culture. In the Neoplatonic tradition, the death of Adonis was often interpreted as an allegory for the soul's descent into the material world and the cyclical nature of life and decay.