The Alba Madonna

English

The Alba Madonna: Raphael

Price: Price on Request
Art Type: Oil Painting
Size:
English Comments: 0
International Comments: 0
Creating Date:
Introduction and Works of Raphael >>

Contemporary-Art.org

Reproduction

Enlarge

Keywords: Alba, Madonna

Work Overview: Alba Madonna
Artist Raphael
Year 1510
Type Oil transferred from wood to canvas
Dimensions 94.5 cm diameter ( 37 1⁄4 in)
Location National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The Alba Madonna is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist, in a typical Italian countryside. John the Baptist is holding up a cross to Jesus, which the baby Jesus is grasping. All three figures are staring at the cross. The three figures are grouped to the left in the round design, but the outstretched arm of the Madonna and the billowing material of her cloak balance the image.

This Madonna was commissioned by Paolo Giovio who planned to send it to the church of the Olivetani in Nocera dei Pagani. In the 18th century, the painting belonged to the Spanish House of Alba, whose name it bears. In 1836 it was acquired by Nicholas I of Russia, who made it one of the highlights of the Imperial Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. A century later the Soviet Government clandestinely sold it to Andrew W. Mellon, who donated his collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it may be seen today.

During its time in the Hermitage, the painting would be transferred from a circular panel to a square canvas during the early nineteenth century. Through analysis of the painting, it was determined that the original panel was severely splitting down the center and on the right side. The canvas pattern is visible in the painting and the landscape on the far right was damaged in the transfer process.[1]

During World War II a group of over 100 pieces of art belonging to the National Gallery of Art, including this one, were transported by train to Asheville, NC where they would be stored in the unfinished music room of the Biltmore House. Done with the utmost secrecy, heavy steel doors were installed and bars were put in the windows of the barren music room. In 1944 after it became clear that the war would soon be over the paintings were moved back to the National Gallery of Art.

Art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon says of the painting:
The Alba Madonna is a breathtakingly beautiful work of art, all the more impressive since recent restoration work brought back the original, delicate pastel colours used by the artist, and revealed the subtle depth and brilliancy of the landscape background. The buildings on the hilltop at the right-hand edge of the composition are caught by a raking light and have been misted by varying degrees of haze to create the illusion of relative distance from the eye – a technique known as aerial perspective. The far mountains are similarly hazed by distance to a rich azure, while the sky above varies in colour from Wedgewood blue, at its apex, to a cool milky-white on the horizon. This range of colours is repeated in the folds and shadows of the Madonna’s blue robes, which at once echo and animate the circular shape of the composition. A monumental, comforting figure, clothed in robes that look as if woven from a piece of fallen sky, she seems like a world unto herself. Although she sits on the ground, which links her iconographically to the tradition of the Madonna of Humility, her statuesque grandeur calls to mind earlier Renaissance images of the Madonna della Misericordia – images of the Virgin as Queen of Heaven and protectress of all humanity. The faintest trace of archaism survives, in Raphael's painting technique, in the almost imperceptibly delicate gold halo inscribed into the air above her head.

After four years in Florence, Raphael moved to Rome in 1508, probably to execute more significant commissions under the papal reign of Julius II. The major work in America from Raphael's Roman period is The Alba Madonna. In this "Madonna of Humility" the Virgin 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 tondo, or round–format style, was popular in Florentine painting, and the influence of the Florentine masters Michelangelo and Leonardo is also apparent in the work.

The Alba Madonna shows the Roman style Raphael adapted, 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. The Madonna is dressed in an antique costume of turban, sandals, and flowing robes. The serene, bucolic atmosphere of Raphael's tondo belies its emotional meaning. The Christ Child's gesture of accepting the cross from the Baptist is the focus of attention of all three figures, as if they have foreknowledge of Christ's sacrifice for mankind.

Paolo Giovio, Raphael's first biographer, commissioned this Madonna. Jesus has taken the cross from the boy Baptist, thus indicating the symbol of His Passion. The older boy is looking at him full of understanding, and visibly saddened. The Virgin has put her hand on his shoulder as if to comfort him.

So-called after the Spanish ducal family of Alba, who owned it for over a century, this painting was later purchased for the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, from which it was acquired for the Mellon Collection. The painting is a perfect expression of the Renaissance art theory. Harmony and balance of design are found in Raphael's ability to stabilize the circular form of the painting with a triangular arrangement of the figures and the strong horizontal line behind them, composed of the river and trees.

John the Baptist looks upwards at Jesus, who sits in his mother Mary's lap. In their hands the boys hold a cross. Mary sits on a low chair. The scene is set against an Italianish landscape.

The scientist Paolo Giovio commissioned Raphael to make this panel. In the 18th century it was acquired by the Spanish House of Alba - hence its name.

The Russian czar Nicolas bought it in 1836 and stored it in his Hermitage palace. There the painting was transfered from panel to canvas.

In the 1930s, during the Soviet rule, it was sold to the American banker and art collector Andrew Mellon. He later donated his collection to the National Gallery in Washington.

The painting Alba Madonna portrays a picture of Mary, Jesus and Saint John the Baptist in an Italian countryside. It was painted by Raphael.

Paolo Giovio commissioned the Madonna and planned to send it to one of the churches in Nocera dei Pagani. The church was known as Oliventani. In 1836, it was made as the highlights of the Imperial Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It was then owned by Nicholas I of Russia. The painting was later donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington by Andrew W. Mellon. Andrew W. Mellon acquired the painting after it was sold to him by the Soviet Government a century later from the acquisition of the painting by Nicholas I. The painting is presently still at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Copyright Statement:
All the reproduction of any forms about this work unauthorized by Singing Palette including images, texts and so on will be deemed to be violating the Copyright Laws.
To cite this webpage, please link back here.

>> English Comments >> Chinese Comments >> French Comments >> German Comments >>Report

Raphael

Work Overview