Raphael, Drapery study (c. 1508)

This study for a drapery evocatively performs the experimental qualities of Renaissance disegno.

On looking at this drawing we might be tempted to classify it as 'unfinished' - the figure below the drapery is roughly sketched, in parts merely alluded to with the soft movement of a single line.

But at the same time, Raphael's 'working out' of the drapery is highly refined - through the elaboration of the form and the subtlety of the shading he is displaying his skill as a draughtsman. The flurry of lines on the perimeters of the drapery add to a sense of dynamism and motion, enacting, perhaps, the dynamic, restless nature of the artist's creative mind at work.