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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis drawing features two distinct anatomical studies on a single page. On the right is a delicate rendering of a young man's head with curly hair looking toward the left, while the lower left shows a highly detailed study of a left hand with fingers partially curled against a surface.
These are preparatory studies for the figure of an apostle in Raphael’s final masterpiece, the 'Transfiguration'. This work is central to Renaissance natural philosophy and Neoplatonism, as it seeks to bridge the gap between physical anatomical accuracy and the 'idea' of divine beauty and spiritual ecstasy.
Raphael, The Transfiguration
This drawing is a primary preparatory study for the head and hand of an apostle in the lower-left foreground of the painting.
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino's Neoplatonic theories on the beauty of the human body as a reflection of divine order influenced the High Renaissance approach to figure drawing.
Object
Oil on panel
anatomical
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://collections.ashmolean.org/
800 × 648 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.