The Virgin and Child with an angel kneeling and supporting the Infant, 1895,0915.637

This sketch depicts the Virgin Mary kneeling in profile with her hands joined in prayer. An angel supports the nude Christ Child, who looks toward the viewer while pointing a single finger upward toward the heavens. The composition is rendered with light, fluid lines and includes a minimalist landscape with a distant building outline.

Raphael’s religious works are central to the High Renaissance synthesis of Christian devotion and Neoplatonic philosophy. The Christ Child's upward gesture is a common motif representing 'anagoge'—the Neoplatonic ascent of the soul from the material world to the divine source, an idea popularized by Marsilio Ficino.