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About This Work
Seated and standing figures representing the Church Militant engage in a theological debate regarding the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Notable figures include Dante Alighieri wearing a laurel wreath and Pope Sixtus IV in gold vestments, while St. Augustine sits on the left with his book 'The City of God' resting on the steps. Above them, putti hold open books of the Gospels near the descending light of the Holy Spirit.
This work represents the Renaissance ideal of 'Divinarum Rerum Notitia' (the knowledge of divine things), forming a Neoplatonic pair with 'The School of Athens' located on the opposite wall. It illustrates the harmony between human reason, poetic inspiration, and divine revelation as understood in the intellectual circle of Pope Julius II.