This article seeks to define the early development of Raphael's approach to the representation of the nude figure by reviewing the sources and dating of a number of his figure studies. It opens by linking some of these drawings to antiquities visible in Rome to support the theory of Raphael's presence in that city before 1508. It is then argued that, prior to his first studies after antique sculpture and the live nude model, executed in Florence, Raphael had assimilated classical motifs through a close study of the art of Perugino and Antonio Pollaiuolo. New evidence is presented to show that, contrary to a currently held view, Perugino and Pollaiuolo closely imitated antique sources.