The Apostles at the Tomb of the Virgin

This drawing depicts a group of men gesturing toward a stone tomb, their faces and bodies expressing a mixture of astonishment and reverence. One figure kneels in the foreground with arms outstretched, while others lean forward to peer into the void where the body was laid. The sketch captures the dramatic narrative of the physical body's absence as it is replaced by a spiritual mystery.

This work represents the High Renaissance effort to visualize the transition between the material and celestial realms, a theme central to the Neoplatonic synthesis of the era. As a product of Raphael's circle, it demonstrates the workshop's role in disseminating iconographies of the soul's ascent to the divine.