Study of Three Nude Bearers

This drawing displays three muscular men rendered with detailed cross-hatching to define their physical strain. The figures are captured from different angles—front, side, and back—as they stoop and reach to lift an unseen weight. These sketches were produced to work out the complex mechanics of the figures who carry the body of Christ in Raphael's finished painting.

This drawing reflects the Renaissance project of anatomical inquiry, where the human body was viewed as a microcosm of divine order, a concept central to Neoplatonic natural philosophy. By mastering the physical structure of the body, artists like Raphael sought to express the invisible movements of the soul through visible physical tension.