Young Man Carrying an Old Man on His Back

This red chalk drawing depicts two nude male figures, focusing on the physical strain and muscular tension of the younger man as he supports the weight of the elder. The youth leans forward to balance the load, while the older man clings to his shoulders, creating a complex intertwining of bodies. It is a preparatory study for a group of figures in Raphael's Vatican fresco, 'The Fire in the Borgo'.

The scene represents 'pietas', the classical virtue of duty and devotion to family and state, popularized by Virgil’s Aeneid. To Renaissance humanists, Aeneas's rescue of his father symbolized the preservation of ancient wisdom and the continuity of the Western tradition through the transition from the old world to the new.