Study for 'Astronomy'

A photograph of a drawing by Raphael now in the Albertina (inv. no.253v). The drawing is a preparatory study for 'Astronomy', one of the four rectangular frescoes painted on the vault of the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican (a photograph at RCIN 852651). The female figure depicted in the fresco, shown as she bends over the celestial globe, is generally identified as an embodiment of the science of Astronomy, but has also been interpreted as the allegory of the Universe or the Prime Mover.

This drawing is on the verso of a sheet depicting studies for the Massacre of the Innocents. See RCIN 850424 for a photograph of the recto.