10 RAPHAEL (Raffaello Sanzio) Italian, 1483-1520 Studies for the "Disputa" Pen and brown ink 31.2 x 20.8 cm (12¼ x 8 3/16 in.) Cat. I, no. 38; 84.GA.920 This is a study for one of the figure groups in the left foreground of the Disputa, one of four frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura of the Vatican, which together constitute one of the artist's great masterpieces. Raphael painted the room for Pope Julius II in 1509—11. Three of the scenes correspond to the faculties into which human knowledge was then organized, with the Disputa representing Theology. The composition juxtaposes serene and regularly arranged divine beings in a hemicycle above with the random groupings of theologians, around an altar, attempting to grasp the mystery of the Faith. The main figure in this study is for the so-called philosopher who in the finished fresco stands turned away from the spectator in the center of the group to the left of the altar. The handling of the drawing shows the extraordinary clarity and economy of Raphael's style. Raphael was one of the great geniuses of the Italian High Renaissance, a short flowering of talent that occurred, principally in Rome, under the influence of classical models. He was preeminent both as a draftsman and as a painter. 18 ITALIAN SCHOOL