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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis black chalk study captures the complex torsion and heavy drapery of a female figure kneeling with her back to the viewer. The main figure's pose emphasizes sculptural volume and the rhythmic movement of her garment as she reacts to an unseen event. These sketches served as preparatory work for the group of women appearing in Raphael's fresco 'The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple' in the Vatican.
This drawing exemplifies the Neoplatonic concept of 'disegno' prevalent in Raphael's Roman circle, where the artist's sketch was viewed as an externalization of an inner divine 'Idea'. It represents the transition from natural observation to the idealized harmony characteristic of the High Renaissance intellectual synthesis.
Marsilio Ficino
Raphael’s working method reflects Ficinian Neoplatonism, which posits that the artist translates a transcendent 'Idea' of beauty into a physical form through the act of design.
Object
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
http://collections.ashmolean.org/collection/search/per_page/100/offset/0/sort_by/date/object/38081
800 × 1084 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.