“Sistine Madonna” by Raphael is one of the most famous Renaissance paintings. The Italian artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483–1520), known as Raphael, was famous for his portraits and pictures of Madonnas. Revered for his harmonious, graceful style, he was deemed the “Prince of Painters” after his death. Upheld in the art historical canon as the quintessential classical painter, he was the model for aspiring artists in the academic tradition until the mid-19th century.
The ‘Prince of Painters’
Raphael was born in the town of Urbino, Italy, where his father was court painter and likely his first teacher. From these promising beginnings, Raphael went on to train under the artist Perugino, but his output was already more advanced than that of his teacher. The youngest of a trio of iconic High Renaissance artists—the group includes Leonardo and Michelangelo—Raphael had the shortest life, dying at age 37. The National Gallery writes that “Raphael has been recognised as the supreme High Renaissance painter, more versatile than Michelangelo and more prolific than their older contemporary Leonardo.”
Raphael achieved prominence in Florence, living there for several years before moving to Rome in 1508 on behest of Pope Julius II. Engaged to work on a redecoration scheme for the papal apartments, his genius was quickly recognized. He became the city’s foremost artist and was given a leadership position to oversee all artistic papal projects. He worked on magnificent fresco cycles, tapestries, history paintings, portraits (Pope Julius II was the subject of one celebrated work), and devotional works. Raphael spent the last 12 years of his life in Rome before dying of a fever. On the pope’s order, he was buried with high honor in the Pantheon.
‘Sistine Madonna’
The central grouping of the composition shows the Virgin holding the Christ Child. They appear through parted curtains as a vision amidst clouds. Upon closer inspection the clouds reveal innumerable angel heads. The Gallery writes, “She carries him from the glory of heaven into the earthly world, representing the incarnation of the Son of God. The serious expression in the eyes of Jesus and his mother implies their awareness of the future Passion.” Kneeling before them are once-earthly figures: Pope Sixtus II, who points out toward the viewer, and Saint Barbara. Both were early Christian martyrs of the third century and venerated at San Sisto, making them fitting subjects for the painting.
Resting on a balustrade at the foot of the painting are cherubim, members of one of the ranks of angels. Stories differ about what inspired Raphael to include them. One legend goes that they were the children of the model for the Madonna. Raphael was struck by their poses as they grew restless waiting for their mother to finish working, and he decided to add them to the composition. Another account says he saw such expressions on two children gazing dreamily into the window of a baker’s shop.
Whatever the inspiration, the painting itself suggests each cherub was added at the end of Raphael’s painting process as they are depicted with lighter brushstrokes than the rest of the image. It may be that they were an afterthought, included in order to fill the canvas and balance the pictorial space.
“Sistine Madonna” was installed in Piacenza’s church of San Sisto for nearly 250 years. While there, the altarpiece image was not widely seen or known. In the 1750s, Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1696–1763), purchased the painting from the monks for an astonishing price of 25,000 “scudi romani.” At the time, it was the highest price ever paid for an artwork. Negotiations lasted two years, and it was finally delivered to the monarch’s Dresden, Germany court in 1754. Augustus eagerly anticipated its arrival, not due to the merits of the painting itself, which he had never seen in-person, but because he finally owned a work by the legendary Raphael.
In the 1850s, artist Adolph von Menzel memorialized this event. The “Make Space for the Great Raphael!” gouache shows Augustus, wearing an ermine mantel, push aside his own throne to allow the “Sistine Madonna” to enter the room, although the details of Raphael’s painting are barely discernible.
A Cultural Upsurge
Augustus III had the painting put on public display in Dresden, Germany. Around the turn of the 19th century, the painting permeated cultural spheres, such as literature, music, and magazines. Numerous painterly copies and prints of the work were made and disseminated. The growth of admiration for “Sistine Madonna” paralleled a renewed interest in the Madonna as the ultimate embodiment of motherhood. The work by arguably the greatest painter of the Virgin Mary captured the public’s heart with its unique combination of the heavenly and earthly. It was one of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky’s favorite paintings. While on his honeymoon in 1867, he went to the Old Master Pictures Gallery and spend hours gazing at “Sistine Madonna.”
In the 19th century, images of the cherubim were copied separately from the full painting and broadly dispersed. Embarking on a “solo international career,” they were used as decorative and merchandising motifs for items such as porcelain, jewelry, sheets, stationary, coffee, and chocolates. Cherubs became symbols of romantic love, heavenly joys on earth, and guardian angels. Today, many readily recognize the cherubim without understanding their connection to Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna.”
Dresden’s artistic treasures were removed from display and hidden in the surrounding countryside during World War II. Near the end of the war, the advancing Red Army seized a number of paintings, including “Sistine Madonna,” and brought them back to Russia in 1945. Ten years later, the Soviet government agreed to return “Sistine Madonna” to Dresden’s Old Master Pictures Gallery. Before its repatriation, tens of thousands of Russians lined up to see it one last time.
