Audio Stop 318
Raphael
The Alba Madonna, c. 1510
West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 20
In this “Madonna of Humility,” the Virgin Mary is seated directly on the ground instead of on a heavenly throne or a sumptuous cushion. The artist grouped the figures in a broad, low pyramid, aligning them within a circle in such a way that they not only conform to their space, but dominate it as well. The Roman style Raphael adapted can be seen in the painting’s delicacy of color and mood, with figures draped in rose pink, pale blue, and green, set in an idealized, classical landscape. Despite the serene atmosphere, the Christ Child’s gesture of accepting the cross from John the Baptist is the focus of attention of all three figures, as if they have foreknowledge of Christ’s later sacrifice for humankind.
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DAVID BROWN:
“Raphael’s Alba Madonna is one of the true masterpieces of our Italian collection. It was painted when the artist was only 27 years old.”
“Here, the infant Christ, seated on his mother’s lap, reaches out and grasps the little cross which is held up to him by the infant St. John the Baptist. All three figures gaze at the cross, as though, with miraculous foreknowledge, they know about the coming crucifixion. So underlying the playfulness of the children and the serenity of the Virgin here is this poignant subtext about Christ’s future sacrifice.”
“The painting is composed with the most extraordinary formal inventiveness and perfection on this round circular panel or tondo, a format that became popular in Florence in the previous century. Raphael posed his figures so that their shapes echo the tondo’s curves, creating a wonderful sense of balance. And then he surrounded them with this lovely soft green and blue landscape, which contributes to the harmonious mood.”
“The Madonna sits gracefully on the ground in what appears to be an absolutely effortless pose. Yet Raphael’s drawing of a studio model for this picture shows how terribly uncomfortable it must have been to sit with one leg twisted under, leaning forward.”
“But that was part of Raphael’s artistry, the ability to take an extremely complicated, intertwined group of figures and make it all seem perfectly easy and natural. In fact, that apparent ease was considered a virtue at the time – sprezzatura, it was called, which meant avoiding any appearance of effort in making something fine. It was an ideal of courtly behavior. And Raphael embodied it in his art.”
“In fact, this work is a prime example of the High Renaissance style that Raphael created – perfectly melding form and content into the kind of image which would serve as a model for centuries of artists to come.”
EARL A. POWELL III:
Raphael painted his celebrated Alba Madonna around 1510, shortly after arriving in Rome, which was making a bid to surpass Florence as Italy’s major artistic center. He had been summoned by the great Pope and patron Julius II. Julius had Michaelangelo working on the ceiling of his Sistine chapel, while Raphael painted frescoes in the new suite of the papal apartments, called the stanze. During the winter months, however, it was too cold to paint in fresco. So Raphael took advantage of that time to paint easel pictures like this one.
DAVID BROWN:
“The studio model Raphael used for his Madonna was actually a young man. At the time, modeling was not a profession, and it was considered indecent for a woman to pose. If an artist like Raphael wanted to work out a figure, he asked one of his apprentices to sit. So the young man who posed for the drawing in this uncomfortable position was probably somebody who ground colors for Raphael and was learning how to paint himself.”