Bridgewater Madonna

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Bridgewater Madonna
ArtistRaphael
Yearc. 1507 - 1508
Typeoil on canvas
Dimensions81 cm × 55 cm (32 in × 22 in)
LocationScottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

The Bridgewater Madonna (in

religious painting by Raphael, dated 1507. Originally on oil and wood, but later transferred to canvas, it measures 81 by 55 cm. The picture is part of the permanent collection of the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, on loan from the Duke of Sutherland Collection.[1]

History

The work by Raphael has been attributed to his mature period in

Duke of Bridgewater (later Earl of Ellesmere). Until 1945 it remained at Bridgewater House, from which it takes its name. It is currently on loan to the Scottish National Gallery from the collection of the Duke of Sutherland (another branch of the same aristocratic family).[2][3]

Preparatory drawings for the work in the

Albertina Museum in Vienna and the British Museum in London show that Raphael was partly inspired by the Florentine works of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, with painterly features typified by chiaroscuro effects and lively intertwined portrayals of the virgin and child.[4] The painting was probably intended to be displayed as a devotional image in a private chamber.[5]

Description and style

On a dark background, in which most features are barely discernible – a niche with an open door, a bench – the Virgin nurses her Child in her lap, while He gently moves around on the left. In an exceptionally harmonious and balanced group, the pair are characterised by their opposing and divergent gestures that generate a serpentine movement – the Child's arms holding the Madonna's veil, her hands touching the Child's body. In an effective way, the intense and vivid colours bring substance to the intertwined figures emerging from the shadows.[2][6][1]

Raphael made many drawings and paintings of the Virgin and Child in

contraposto twist. The gaze between the exquisite Mother and Child underlines its tenderness. Technical X-ray analysis shows that originally the artist painted a landscape as background, typical of earlier portrayals of the Madonna. Probably Raphael later decided that choosing a dark background allowed the pair to be painted more subtly, increasing the contrast between light and shade, and thus enhancing the sense of volume and monumentality.[5]

Raphael's motifs were foreshadowed by two earlier Florentine artists of the

National Gallery, London; and an oval version, now held by the National Trust in Nostell Priory, Yorkshire.[7][8]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Franzese 2008
  2. ^ a b Prince Albert 1832
  3. ^ Champlin 1886
  4. ^ De Vecchi & Cerchiari 1999, p. 191
  5. ^ a b National Galleries Scotland 2020
  6. ^ Pierluigi 1975
  7. ^ Murray 1977, p. 18
  8. ^ St Oswald Collection 2010

References

  • De Vecchi, Pierluigi; Cerchiari, Elda (1999). I tempi dell'arte (in Italian). Vol. 2. Milan: Bompiani.
    ISBN 88-451-7212-0
    .     .
  • Pierluigi, De Vecchi (1975). Raffaello. Milan: Rizzoli.
  • Franzese, Paolo (2008). Raffaello. Milan: Mondadori Arte.
    ISBN 978-88-370-6437-2
    .
  • ISBN 0195199901
    .
  • Champlin, John Edison Jr. (1886). "Bridgewater, Madonna". Cyclopedia of painters and painting (PDF). Vol. 3. Laar-Quost. pp. 129–130.

External links

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