Madonna of the Pinks
The Madonna of the Pinks | |
---|---|
Artist | Raphael |
Year | c. 1506–1507 |
Type | oil on yew |
Dimensions | 27.9 cm × 22.4 cm (11.0 in × 8.8 in) |
Location | National Gallery London |
The Madonna of the Pinks (c. 1506 – 1507, Italian: La Madonna dei garofani) is an early devotional painting usually attributed to Italian Renaissance master Raphael. It is painted in oils on highly toxic yew wood, a first for a Raphael, and now hangs in the National Gallery, London.
Subject matter
The painting depicts a youthful Virgin Mary playing with the Christ child and handing him carnations. (The Italian title, La Madonna dei garofani actually means The Madonna of the Carnation.) These flowers, whose botanical name is dianthus (Greek for ‘flower of God’), are a premonition of Christ's Passion – according to Christian legend[1] the flower first appeared when the Virgin wept at the Crucifixion. The event takes place in a dimly lit domestic setting influenced by Netherlandish art. The composition is based closely on the Benois Madonna by Leonardo da Vinci, although the colour scheme of blues and greens that link the Virgin with the landscape is Raphael's own. Through the arched window, we see a mountaintop with a ruin, possibly alluding to the Fortezza Albornoz to the west of the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino which was reduced by French soldiers in 1789.
Provenance
The subject matter and size of the painting, little larger than a Book of Hours, might suggest that it may have been intended as a portable aid to prayer. Although Raphael almost exclusively worked for one Ducal family in these years the identity of its original patron is currently officially supposed unknown, although a probably forged inventory from the 1850s suggests that it was commissioned for a (probably non-existing) Maddalena degli Oddi, supposedly a member of a prominent Perugian family, after she had taken holy orders.[2]
In the 19th century it was property of the painter Vincenzo Camuccini, supposedly bought by his brother, the infamous art dealer and serial forger Pietro under highly dubious circumstances.
Attribution to Raphael
Only in 1991 was the painting identified as a genuine Raphael,[3] by the Renaissance scholar Nicholas Penny. Although Raphael scholars were aware of the existence of the work, which had hung in Alnwick Castle since 1853, they considered it merely the best of several copies of a lost original. After a major public appeal the Madonna of the Pinks was bought in 2004 by the National Gallery from the Duke of Northumberland for £34.88 million, with contributions from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Art Collections Fund.[4] To justify the expenditure it went on a nationwide tour to Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Barnard Castle.
An early critic of the attribution of the National Gallery's painting Madonna of the Pinks to Raphael was James Beck, who set out his arguments in a series of articles published in the popular press, in various scholarly journals,[5] and more extensively in a posthumous publication From Duccio to Raphael: Connoisseurship in Crisis (2007). Brian Sewell notably criticised the painting for being of low quality and possibly forged, pointing out how the Madonna's right leg seems disconnected from her body.[citation needed]
Painting materials
The palette is relatively limited compared to other works by Raphael.[6] The sky and the blue drapery of the Virgin are painted in natural ultramarine and azurite; the artist further employed lead-tin yellow, malachite and verdigris.[7]
See also
References
- National Gallery, London press release upon acquisition of the painting in 2004
- 2004 Review: The Annual Report of the National Art Collections Fund
- Ingrid Schade-Schlieder, Die Kopien der "Madonna mit der Nelke" von Raffael, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Würzburg (2009)
- Patrizia Cavazzini and Pier Ludovico Puddu, “The Provenance of Raphael’s ‘Madonna of the Pinks’”, The Burlington Magazine no. 160 (October 2018), pp. 833-839
- Jan Sammer, Seventy-Two Virgins: The Many Faces of Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks - a comparative study of all known versions of the composition
- Luca Baroni, “La Madonna dei Garofani di Raffaello e le sue copie: Raffaello nella Urbino dei Della Rovere - 1”, Studi Raffaelleschi no. 1 (2022), pp. 32-61.
Notes
- ^ Elisabeth Wolffhardt, “Beiträge zur Pflanzensymbolik” in Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft 8 (1954), 177-196.
- ^ Lisa Jardine (28 June 2003). "Heavenly creature". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
- ^ Nicholas Penny, “Raphael's 'Madonna dei garofani' Rediscovered” The Burlington Magazine vol. 124, no. 1067 (February 1992)
- ^ "British campaign to 'save' a popular Titian". The New York Times. 9 December 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
- ^ “Raphael’s "Madonna of the Pinks": A Connoisseurship Challenge” Notes in the History of Art , Winter 2005, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 50-59)
- ^ Roy, A., Spring, M., Plazzotta, C. “Raphael’s Early Work in the National Gallery: Paintings before Rome”. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 25, pp 4–35.
- ^ Raphael, Madonna of the Pinks, ColourLex
External links
- Official website
- Excerpt from an interview with the late art historian Brian Sewell
- Media related to Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael at Wikimedia Commons
- v
- t
- e
- Baronci Altarpiece (1500–1501)
- Saint Sebastian (1501–1502)
- Resurrection of Christ (1499–1502)
- Mond Crucifixion (1502–1503)
- Madonna and Child with the Book (c. 1503)
- Solly Madonna (c. 1500–1504)
- Oddi Altar (1502–1504)
- Conestabile Madonna (c. 1502–1504)
- Portrait of a Man (c. 1503–1504)
- Vision of a Knight (1503–1504)
- The Marriage of the Virgin (1504)
- Diotallevi Madonna (c. 1504)
- Portrait of Perugino 1 (c. 1504)
- Colonna Altarpiece (c. 1503–1505)
- Saint George (c. 1503–1505)
- Three Graces (c. 1503–1505)
- Saint Michael (c. 1504–1505)
- Christ Blessing (c. 1502–1504)
- Portrait of Pietro Bembo (c. 1504)
- Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga 2 (c. 1504–1505)
- Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltro 2 (c. 1504–1505)
- Small Cowper Madonna (c. 1504–1505)
- Terranuova Madonna (c. 1504–1505)
- Madonna del Granduca (c. 1505)
- Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1505)
- Young Man with an Apple (c. 1505)
- Self-portrait (1504–1506)
- La donna gravida (1505–1506)
- Madonna del Cardellino (c. 1505–1506)
- Young Woman with Unicorn (c. 1505–1506)
- Madonna del Prato (1506)
- Madonna with Beardless Saint Joseph (c. 1506)
- Portrait of Agnolo Doni (c. 1506)
- Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (c. 1506)
- Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. 1506)
- Ansidei Madonna (1505–1507)
- Madonna of the Pinks (c. 1506–1507)
- Bridgewater Madonna (c. 1507–1508)
- The Deposition (1507)
- Madonna of the Baldacchino (c. 1506–1508)
- La belle jardinière (1507–1508) (completed by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio)
- Canigiani Holy Family (c. 1507–1508)
- Colonna Madonna (c. 1507–1508)
- Portrait of a Young Woman (La Muta) (c. 1507–1508)
- Esterhazy Madonna (c. 1508)
- Niccolini-Cowper Madonna (1508)
- Tempi Madonna (1508)
- Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1507–1509)
- Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami (c. 1509)
- Garvagh Madonna (c. 1509–1510)
- Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (c. 1509–1511)
- Portrait of a Cardinal (c. 1510–1511)
- Alba Madonna (c. 1511)
- Madonna of Loreto (c. 1511)
- The Prophet Isaiah (1511–1512)
- Madonna of Foligno (c. 1511–1512)
- Portrait of Pope Julius II (1511, 1512)
- Galatea (c. 1512)
- Madonna with the Fish (c. 1512–1514)
- Madonna della Seggiola (c. 1513–1514)
- Madonna of the Candelabra (c. 1513–1514)
- Sistine Madonna (c. 1513–1514)
- Madonna dell'Impannata (c. 1513–1514)
- Madonna della Tenda (c. 1513–1514)
- Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1513–1514)
- Sibyls (1514)
- Portrait of Bindo Altoviti (c. 1512–1515)
- Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–1515)
- Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary (c. 1514–1516)
- Creation of the World (1516)
- Portrait of Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano (1516)
- Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena (c. 1516)
- La velata (c. 1516)
- Visitation (c. 1517)
- The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia (c. 1514–1517)
- Madonna with the Blue Diadem (c. 1510–1518)
- Holy Family of Francis I (1518)
- Saint Michael Vanquishing Satan (1518)
- Ezekiel's Vision (c. 1518)
- Portrait of Doña Isabel de Requesens y Enríquez de Cardona-Anglesola (with Giulio Romano) (c. 1518)
- Saint Margaret and the Dragon (c. 1518)
- La Fornarina (1518–1519)
- Small Holy Family (c. 1518–1519) (with Giulio Romano)
- Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1518–1519) (with Giulio Romano)
- Transfiguration (1516–1520)
- Madonna de Bogota (c. 1517–1520)
- Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals (c. 1518–1520)
- Madonna of the Rose (1518–1520)
- Self-Portrait with a Friend (1518–1520)
- The Parnassus (1509–1511)
- The School of Athens (1509–1511)
- Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (1510–1511)
- Cardinal and Theological Virtues (1511)
- The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple (1511–1512)
- The Mass at Bolsena (1512–1514)
- The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila (1513–1514)
- Deliverance of Saint Peter (1514)
- The Fire in the Borgo (c. 1514–1517) (executed by Giulio Romano)
- Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1514–1516)
- Christ's Charge to Peter (1514–1516)
- Healing of the Lame Man (1514–1516)
- Death of Ananias (1514–1516)
- Conversion of the Proconsul (1514–1516)
- Sacrifice at Lystra (1514–1516)
- Saint Paul Preaching in Athens (1514–1516)
- Lucretia (1500s)
- Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1508)
- Jonah (1520) (executed by Lorenzetto)
- Elijah (c. 1520–1524) (executed by Lorenzetto and Raffaello da Montelupo)
- Chigi Chapel (1507–1520) (continued by other architects)
- Palazzo Jacopo da Brescia (1515–1519)
- Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila (c. 1520)
- Sant'Eligio degli Orefici (1509–1575) (completed by Baldassare Peruzzi and Bastiano da Sangallo)
- Villa Madama (1518–1525) (completed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and other disciples)
- Villa Farnesina (decoration)
- Giovanni Santi (father)
- Imperia Cognati (mistress and model)
- Margarita Luti (mistress and model)
- Giulio Romano (disciple and collaborator)
- Raphael and La Fornarina (1813 painting)
- Raphael (1894 opera)
- La Fornarina (1944 film)
- Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
- SS Raffaello
- Raphael (crater)
- Vatican loggias
- 1 Also attributed to Lorenzo di Credi
- 2 Attributed