Verso Various roughly sketched ground plans

The sheet displays several faint, schematic drawings of building layouts. These sketches show the artist exploring geometric arrangements of space, with one larger plan featuring a curved niche or apse and various partitions. The lines are delicate and utilitarian, capturing the early stages of a conceptual design.

Raphael’s architectural studies are integral to the Renaissance synthesis of Neoplatonic thought and classical geometry. These plans represent the application of mathematical proportions to physical space, a practice believed to mirror the underlying divine order of the universe as described in Platonic and Vitruvian theory.