Verso A standing young man, a study of a seated figure in the upper right, 1895,0915.611

This delicate drawing depicts a youth looking over his right shoulder, wrapped in voluminous robes that suggest a figure from antiquity. The artist uses fine, precise lines to explore the fall of light on fabric and the anatomical posture of the subject. A secondary, much fainter sketch of a seated figure is visible in the upper right corner of the prepared paper.

This is a preparatory study for Raphael's 'Disputa' (Disputation of the Holy Sacrament) in the Stanza della Segnatura, the room which also contains 'The School of Athens'. The fresco program represents the peak of Renaissance Neoplatonism, visually reconciling pagan philosophy with Christian theology as part of the intellectual project of the Roman curia.