Madonna del Granduca by Raphael

"Raphael’s Madonna del Granduca is a devotional reproduction of the Madonna by the Italian Renaissance master Raphael. Painted in 1505 shortly after Raphael’s arrival in Florence from Urbino, the work is a remarkable testament to the artist’s ability to soak up the moods, styles, and compositional concerns of the Renaissance capital. Explicitly acknowledging the influence of Da Vinci, whose works Raphael would have been closely acquainted himself with, Madonna del Granduca is rendered in the sfumato mode. This painting style, honed by Da Vinci, strives for a balance of form with no harsh outlines, instead employing broad strokes of color that both describe and enhance the light source. For many art critics, this canvas is one of the canonical works of Western painting – truly classical in its proportions and balance, and serving as a benchmark for countless generations.

Raphael seats the Madonna with the infant Christ, and with breath-taking clarity conjures an image of warmth, benevolence and affection from the personae of both figures. The Virgin’s care and love for Christ is expressed in her rigid left hand supporting the child from underneath, as Christ’s left hand deftly caresses his mother’s chest. The intimacy between the two figures, despite the disparity of size, is remarkable, as Raphael, a master of composition and balance, seems to render the figures as equally prominent on the spatial plane of the canvas. Often viewed as slightly disconcerting by modern audiences, Raphael’s commercial appeal in his day lay in his ability to create delicate and benevolent reproductions of Biblical figures, thus ushering in figures that conform to their own inner unity but not always to what one might deem outward realism. Raphael’s Madonna del Granduca is thus a painting that privileges harmony over aesthetic verisimilitude."