The Sistine Madonna

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The Sistine Madonna: Raphael

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Raphael Various Paintings - The Sistine Madonna

Keywords: Sistine, Madonna

Work Overview: Sistine Madonna
Artist Raphael
Year 1512
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 265 cm × 196 cm (104 in × 77 in)
Location Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

The Sistine Madonna, also called the Madonna di San Sisto, is an oil painting by the Italian artist Raphael Sanzio. The altarpiece was commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II for the church of San Sisto, Piacenza. The canvas was one of the last Madonnas painted by the artist. Giorgio Vasari called it "a truly rare and extraordinary work".[1]

Relocated to Dresden from 1754, the well-known painting was particularly influential in Germany. After World War II, it was relocated to Moscow for a decade before being returned to Germany. It is now a masterpiece of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

The oil painting, measures 265 cm by 196 cm.[2] In the painting the Madonna, holding the Christ Child and flanked by Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara, stands on clouds before dozens of obscured cherubim, while two distinctive winged cherubim rest on their elbows beneath her.

Pigment analysis of Raphael's masterpiece[7][8] reveals the usual pigments of the renaissance period such as malachite mixed with orpiment in the green drapery on top of the painting, natural ultramarine mixed with lead white in the blue robe of Madonna and a mixture of lead-tin-yellow, vermilion and lead white in the yellow sleeve of St Barbara.

The painting was commissioned by Pope Julius II[9][10] in honor of his late uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, as an altarpiece for the basilica church of the Benedictine Monastery of San Sisto in Piacenza, with which the Rovere family had a long-standing relationship.[11] The commission required that the painting depict both Saints Sixtus and Barbara.[6] Legend has it that when Antonio da Correggio first laid eyes on the piece, he was inspired to cry, "And I also, I am a painter!"[12]

In 1754, Augustus III of Poland purchased the painting for 110,000 – 120,000 francs, whereupon it was relocated to Dresden and achieved new prominence;[12][13][14] this was to remain the highest price paid for any painting for many decades. In 2001's The Invisible Masterpiece, Hans Belting and Helen Atkins describe the influence the painting has had in Germany:

Like no other work of art, Raphael's Sistine Madonna in Dresden has fired the Germans' imagination, uniting or dividing them in the debate about art and religion.... Over and again, this painting has been hailed as 'supreme among the world's paintings' and accorded the epithet 'divine'....[15]

If the stories are correct, the painting achieved its prominence immediately, as it's said that Augustus moved his throne in order to better display it.[12] The Sistine Madonna was notably celebrated by Johann Joachim Winckelmann in his popular and influential Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums (1764), positioning the painting firmly in the public view and in the center of a debate about the relative prominence of its Classical and Christian elements.[16] Alternately portraying Raphael as a "devout Christian" and a "'divine' Pagan" (with his distinctly un-Protestant Mary who could have as easily been Juno), the Germans implicitly tied the image into a legend of their own, "Raphael's Dream."[17] Arising in the last decades of the 18th century, the legend—which made its way into a number of stories and even a play—presents Raphael as receiving a heavenly vision that enabled him to present his divine Madonna.[18] It is claimed the painting has stirred many viewers, and that at the sight of the canvas some were transfixed to a state of religious ecstasy akin to Stendhal Syndrome (including one of Freud's patients). This nearly miraculous power of the painting made it an icon of 19th-century German Romanticism.[19] The picture influenced Goethe, Wagner and Nietzsche[20] According to Dostoyevsky, the painting was "the greatest revelation of the human spirit".[21] In 1855, the "Neues Königliches Museum" (New Royal Museum) opened in a building designed by Gottfried Semper, and the Sistine Madonna was given a room of its own.

Sistine Madonna was rescued from destruction during the bombing of Dresden in World War II,[20] but the conditions in which it was saved and the subsequent history of the piece are themselves the subject of controversy. The painting was stored, with other works of art, in a tunnel in Saxon Switzerland; when the Red Army encountered them, they took them.[23] The painting was temporarily removed to Pillnitz, from which it was transported in a box on a tented flatcar to Moscow. There, sight of the Madonna brought Soviet leading art official Mikhail Khrapchenko to declare that the Pushkin Museum would now be able to claim a place among the great museums of the world.[24]

In 1946, the painting went temporarily on restricted exhibition in the Pushkin, along with some of the other treasures the Soviets had retrieved.[25] But in 1955, after the death of Joseph Stalin, the Soviets decided to return the art to Germany, "for the purpose of strengthening and furthering the progress of friendship between the Soviet and German peoples."[23][25] There followed some international controversy, with press around the world stating that the Dresden art collection had been damaged in Soviet storage.[23] Soviets countered that they had in fact saved the pieces. The tunnel in which the art was stored in Saxon Switzerland was climate controlled, but according to a Soviet military spokesperson, the power had failed when the collection was discovered and the pieces were exposed to the humid conditions of the underground.[23][26] Soviet paintings Partisan Madonna of Minsk by Mikhail Savitsky and And the Saved World Remembers by Mai Dantsig are based on the Sistine Madonna.[27][28]

Stories of the horrid conditions from which the Sistine Madonna had been saved began to circulate.[23] But, as reported by ARTnews in 1991, Russian art historian Andrei Chegodaev, who had been sent by the Soviets to Germany in 1945 to review the art, denied it:

It was the most insolent, bold-faced lie.... In some gloomy, dark cave, two [actually four] soldiers, knee-deep in water, are carrying the Sistine Madonna upright, slung on cloths, very easily, barely using two fingers. But it couldn’t have been lifted like this even by a dozen healthy fellows... because it was framed.... Everything connected with this imaginary rescue is simply a lie.[23]

ARTnews also indicated that the commander of the brigade that retrieved the Madonna also described the stories as "a lie", in a letter to Literaturnaya Gazeta published in the 1950s, indicating that "in reality, the ‘Sistine Madonna,’ like some other pictures, ...was in a dry tunnel, where there were various instruments that monitored humidity, temperature, etc."[23] But, whether true or not, the stories had found foothold in public imagination and have been recorded as fact in a number of books.

After its return to Germany, the painting was restored to display in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, where guidebooks single it out in the collection, variously describing it as the "most famous",[29] the "top",[30] the "showpiece",[31] and "the collection's highlight".[32] From 26 May to 26 August 2012, the Dresden gallery celebrated the 500th anniversary of the painting.

A prominent element within the painting, the winged angels beneath Mary are famous in their own right. As early as 1913 Gustav Kobbé declared that "no cherub or group of cherubs is so famous as the two that lean on the altar top indicated at the very bottom of the picture."[35] Heavily marketed, they have been featured in stamps, postcards, T-shirts, and wrapping paper.[36] These cherubim have inspired legends of their own. According to a 1912 article in Fra Magazine, when Raphael was painting the Madonna the children of his model would come in to watch. Struck by their posture as they did, the story goes, he added them to the painting exactly as he saw them.[37] Another story, recounted in 1912's St. Nicholas Magazine, says that Raphael rather was inspired by two children he encountered on the street when he saw them "looking wistfully into the window of a baker's shop."

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This work of religious art - a masterpiece of High Renaissance painting - by the Urbino master Raphael, was the last of his Madonnas and one of the last pictures he completed himself. Among the great examples of altarpiece art, it was commissioned by Pope Julius II and installed on the high altar of the Benedictine abbey church of San Sisto (St. Sixtus) in Piacenza. Originally, however, it was intended as a decoration for the sepulchre of Julius II, and the image of Pope Sixtus I (on the left of the picture) was selected because he was the patron saint of Julius' clan, the Della Rovere family. Reportedly donated by the San Sisto monks to King Augustus III of Saxony (1696-1763), it was moved to his capital Dresden in 1754. In 1855, it was installed in a room of its own in the city's New Royal Museum (Neues Konigliches Museum). In 1946, after World War II, it was moved to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, before being returned to Germany in 1955. Regarded by historians as one of the greatest religious paintings of the Italian Renaissance, it is currently housed in the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

Composition
This divine piece of Renaissance art features a harmonious balanced design, practiced illusionism and church rhetoric. At the top, The Madonna is holding the Christ Child. Lower down to the left, Saint Sixtus humbly looks up to her while pointing outward to the faithful congregation with his right hand. In this act of mediation between the heavenly Madonna and the earthly plane of the viewer, he is joined by Saint Barbara standing opposite (whose relics were worshipped in the church of San Sisto), who inspects the scene with her downward gaze. At the foot of the picture, two picturesque winged cherubs are pictured resting on their elbows while gazing distractedly at the three figures above them. To the left, the Papal tiara of the former Pope Sixtus I rests on the frame of the painting, acting as a sort of bridge between the real and pictorial space.

The three main figures - The Virgin, Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara Madonna - inhabit an imaginary space, framed by heavy curtains which have been opened to reveal the heavenly scene. Positioned in the usual triangular arrangement, they are standing on a bed of clouds, looking down upon the church congregation which would be assembled below.

Aside from the clever illusionism of the work, it exemplifies several other aspects of Raphael's unique skill as one of the finest High Renaissance artists. First, the layout of the figures is exceptionally balanced. Unified by gestures and poses, the trio enjoy a completely harmonious pictorial relationship, while happily occupying their own individual space. Second, the facial proportions of the Virgin, the Christ Child, Saint Barbara and the famous putti, are calculated to produce aesthetic looks: a feature which is enhanced by Raphael's skilful rendering of flesh tones and use of chiaroscuro. Third, notice the realistic perspective, or 'depth' which he creates in the painting, partly through the intrusion of the putti into the real space of the viewer, and partly through the triangular arrangement of the figures - both of which permits the Madonna to be positioned some distance into the picture, creating the illusion of depth in the picture plane. Fourth, see also Raphael's virtuoso depiction of the swirling drapery, which helps to direct the viewer's eye around the composition while enhancing the overall realistic nature of the scene. Fifth, Raphael's Renaissance colour palette also helps to direct the spectator's attention, and also adds warmth and richness to the composition. In all, a masterpiece of disegno.

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The Sistine Madonna is one of Raphael's most famous works. The painting takes it's name from the church of San Sisto in Piacenza and Raphael painted it as the altarpiece for that church in 1513-1514. The piece was purchased in 1754 by King Augustus III of Saxony for his collection in Dresden. In Germany the painting was very influential, sparking debate on the questions of art and religion.

The Madonna holds her child as she floats on a swirling carpet of clouds, she is flanked by St Sixtus and St Barbara. At the foot of the painting are two angels (cherubs) who gaze in whistfull contemplation. There has been lots of speculation about the sadness, or even petrified expressions on the face of the Virgin and the infant Jesus. Why are they so mournful and terrified? Why does St Sixtus point out of the painting at us, the viewers?
The answer becomes clear when we consider the original intended location of the work. Placed behind a choir screen, that no longer survives, the Sistine Madonna would have faced a crucifix attached to the screen. So the mystery is solved, the Virgin and infant Jesus gaze out on the crucifixion. The frightened expressions are understandable, Jesus sees his own death and his mother is witness to the torture and death of her child. It is to the scene of the crucifixion that St Sixtus also points and not to the viewer.

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Commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1513, The Sistine Madonna is one of the world's most recognizable paintings. Capturing the public's imagination ever since its creation, the two cherubs at the bottom of the altarpiece who sit as observers looking up at the Madonna and the Christ child as they descend from a heavenly space.

Aside from the two cherubs, there are four other heavenly beings within Raphael's large alter painting. On the viewer's left, there is Martyr Pope Sixtus II. He looks up at the Holy Mother and child and points out to an invisible audience as if to say, "look at those who come to pay worship to you and the Holy child", his hand has the appearance of almost reaching out of the frame of the painting.

Looking closely at the pope's right hand, one can see that it appears that he has five fingers and a thumb. The reason behind this phenomenon remains unknown and the existence (planned or unplanned) is a matter of contestation. Pope Sixtus's Pope Miter rests down below next to where the cherubs sit - it has probably been removed to pay respect to the Holy Mother.

On the Madonna and baby Jesus' right side is the patron saint of artillery gunners, lighting and all those who risk their lives in working - Saint Barbara. Unlike the cherubs and Pope Sixtus II, she is not looking at the Holy Mother but down at the cherubs. This enigmatic look has been difficult for art scholars over centuries to comprehend; it consists of an overall tone of sadness but with a hint of a smile. Hidden in the background behind a curtain near Saint Barbara is a tower which is a representation of her imprisonment (in a tower) as she was locked away for her belief in Christianity in opposition to her father.

This painting was said to have been painted for the Epiphany, which usually includes the three kings of the East but instead we see Mary and Christ hovering on clouds. Wearing her traditional red and blue, Mary holds the Christ child as she looks out to the invisible audience, which Pope Sixtus II is pointing out towards. The mother and child have their heads touching as they look out on this crowd with Mary holding Christ snuggled against her and wrapped in the veil of her layered dress. Their faces show no expression (or at least any discernable expression) as they look out and lock eyes with the viewer. The Holy Mother, Christ Child, Pope Sixtus II, and Saint Barbara each have halos over their heads but which are barely visible because of years of fading.

The Sistine Madonna is painted with the illusion of being on a stage. This stage appears visible from the plank that the cherubs rest on and the curtain and rod that frame the painting. The curtains are open for the display of the Holy Mother and the Christ Child for the audience as Pope Sixtus II presents the Madonna to all who have come to see her.

Raphael had already executed a series of brilliant Madonna paintings in Florence between 1505 and 1507, La Belle Jardiniere (please see Related Paintings below) being but one example. These works are all marked especially by the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, who had been making great innovations in painting since the 1480s.

Raphael was called to Rome at the end of 1508 by Pope Julius II, on whom he had made a great impression. The Sistine Madonna was commissioned as an altarpiece for the chapel of the convent of St. Sixtus in Piacenza in 1513. Pope Julius II had a particular interest in the St. Sixtus chapel, given that before becoming Pope (then still a Cardinal) he had made a contribution to the original building fund for the chapel, which housed the supposed relics of St. Sixtus and St. Barbara.

Mystery solved:
Only recently have some of the questions surrounding the Sistine Madonna and the expressions of the Madonna and baby Christ finally been resolved. Recent research by A. Prager suggests the key to the mystery lies in the position in which the altarpiece originally stood. In examining what Pope Sixtus II is pointing at and what the Mother and Child are looking at, Prager argues that opposite to the altarpiece in S. Sisto and above the rood screen at the far end of the chancel there stood a crucifix. The expressions of horror on the faces of Mother and Child are thus their reaction to the sight of death.

Composition:
There are a host of art historians who have attempted and failed to adequately explain Raphael's Sistine Madonna, particularly the expressions on the faces of the Madonna and Child. Despite this, the Sistine Madonna is said to be a painting depicting the Epiphany (although the traditional Epiphany contains three kings).

Madonna and Christ are shown to be hovering in the clouds; the young mother looks innocent and is clasping baby Jesus in her scarf to her breast. She is wearing the famous impenetrable gaze as her right cheek touches baby Jesus' head and she floats barefoot with toes that are too short and unnatural.

In a break from the Madonna's Raphael painted in Florence, her dress is thin with her nipple clearly visible. The color of mother and son's hair, eyes and skin are similar, but the faces do not contain any similarity. The baby Christ child is bending his right leg and resting his left hand below his knee on the shin.

In the painting Pope Sixtus II takes his pope's miter off and puts it on the plank where the two cherubs are resting on their arms. He is staring at Madonna and Christ in surprise.

The two cherubs are the most popular image associated with the Sistine Madonna given the huge amount of merchandise (gift cards etc. ) that is sold regarding the painting in Dresden (where the painting is located) and around the world. One of the cherubs is resting his chin on his left hand and the other is folding his arms. Both of them are looking up to Madonna and her son as onlookers.

The Sistine Madonna's background is also extremely difficult to analyze. It has been suggested that the background represents ghost like baby images represent either angels or unborn children. The babies' faces are expressionless and their pupils are not visible which gives the unsettling image of lifelessness.

Raphael's Sistine Madonna makes heavy use of reds, greens and whites. These are the traditional colors of Italy. In addition, Raphael has painted the Mary in her traditional blue and red, along with Pope Sixtus II in gold and white, the official colors of the Pope and Holy Church. Despite this, these colors do not overawe the central figures of the painting, the Madonna and Christ child.

Use of light:
By the time Raphael painted the Sistine Madonna he was an expert in the use of Chiaroscuro, which he adapted from his mentor da Vinci. In the painting there are strong contrasts between light and dark, and he achieves an elegant sense of volume (as in all his paintings) in the human body shapes.

Mood, tone and emotion:
Raphael's Sistine Madonna is regarded as a defining piece of classic art from the High Renaissance. It gives a highly idealized depiction of the forms represented, achieved simultaneously with his characteristic sprezzatura. Raphael's work has a calm and extroverted tone which explains its longevity as a popular, universally accessible form of visual communication.

Brush stroke:
Raphael's Sistine Madonna painting has a seemingly effortless grace, which belies the careful planning and attention to detail involved in its creation. This work is another demonstration of his superb draftsmanship, his ability to control line with complete assurance and mastery. At the time of completing the Sistine Madonna drawing was considered a superior skill to the handling of color, the argument being that line was a more intellectual discipline and color essentially decorative.
The esteem in which the Sistine Madonna was held after its creation can be seen by the lengths that Dresden went to acquire it in the mid-18th century. During Raphael's lifetime the piece was regarded as another example of his genius.

Such was the renown of the Sistine Madonna that Augustus III, the Elector of Saxony and the King of Poland wanted to obtain the artwork for Saxony. At the beginning of the year 1752, the court of Saxony began to negotiate with the monks of the St. Sixtus (who were under financial difficulties) to purchase the picture. The court said the value was 15,000 scudi, and finally an agreement was reached and the picture was sold to the court of Saxony for the price of 25,000 scudi in the year 1754.

Even to this day such an exorbitant amount of money has never been paid for a picture. The price of 25,000 scudi was said to have been enough to build a whole district of a town in that era.

Even today the Sistine Madonna remains a symbol of Dresden and everywhere you go in that city it can be found. The two cherubs at the foot of the painting and the figure of Saint Barbara have often been used and reproduced in popular culture, such as stamps, gifts and Christmas cards.

Generations of visitors to the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden have been deeply impressed by the way in which Raphael portrayed the Madonna in this painting and it has been reproduced over and over again.

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The Sistine Madonna is an oil painting depicting the Virgin Mary holding the baby Christ child in her arms. Her face as she looks into his appears worried as it does in the painting of the crucifixion. Beneath her are two cherubs resting on their elbows and gazing up at the Virgin Mother. Mary, surrounded by the benevolent Saints Sixtus and Barbara, stands on clouds in front of numerous concealed cherubs.

Raphael
The Sistine Madonna was created by Raphael Sanzio da Urbino just a few short years before the artist’s death in c. 1514. It was the last painting to be completed by his own hands and was painted for the Benedictine Monks of the San Sisto Monastery Piacenza. It was the Monks direct request that the painting have both the aforementioned Saints in the painting with the Virgin Mary. Upon completion of this magnificent work of art it was hung near the Monk’s alter. It is said that when Antonio da Correggio first saw the painting he was moved to tears as have been many others since its completion.

Sistine Madonna Moves to Germany
In 1754, the Sistine Madonna was purchased by the King of Poland; Augustus III and was relocated to Dresden Germany where it regained renewed recognition. It is written that the King of Poland was so moved by the image that he moved his throne to better show the masterpiece to the people. This spiked the German’s passions and created a division of sorts as to whether the piece was in fact art or religion.
Another Move
During the Second World War it became necessary to move the painting to Switzerland until it was taken in 1946 by the Russians who in 1955 returned it to Germany as an act of joining forces with the German people. Following the painting’s return to Germany, it was restored and displayed in the German Art Gallery where it has been touted as being the most famous painting of all.

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The canvas with the Virgin, Child and Saints Sixtus and Barbara, usually called the Sistine Madonna, is characterized by an imaginary space created by the figures themselves. The figures stand on a bed of clouds, framed by heavy curtains which open to either side. The Virgin actually appears to descend from a heavenly space, through the picture plane, out into the real space in which the painting is hung. The gesture of St Sixtus and the glance of St Barbara seem to be directed toward the faithful, whom we imagine beyond the balustrade at the bottom of the painting. The Papal tiara, which rests on top of this balustrade, act as a bridge between the real and pictorial space.

The painting was probably intended to decorate the tomb of Julius II, for the holy pope Sixtus was the patron saint of the Della Rovere family and St Barbara and the two winged 'genii' (visible at the bottom of the picture space) symbolize the funeral ceremony. The canvas was located in the convent of St Sixtus in Piacenza and was later donated by the monks to Augustus III, King of Saxony. It was carried to Moscow after the Second World War, and was later returned to Dresden.

Generations of visitors to the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden have been deeply impressed by the way in which Raphael portrayed the Madonna in this painting. It has been reproduced over and over again, and almost everyone is familiar with the putti leaning on the balustrade. The Madonna appears from behind a curtain, confident and yet hesitant. The curtain gives the illusion of hiding her figure from the eyes of the onlooker and at the same time of being able to protect Raphael's painting.

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This painting (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) combines secular and earthly clerical elements with the divine in an ostensible theatrical interplay. The lid of the coffin of Pope Julius II forms the stage, while the tableau curtains are drawn apart to reveal the divine action.

This hierarchical pastiche communicates the heavens to the devout in a known way: from the bottom of the painting — the church, along with its highest representative, — through the center, where the saints hover, — and to the top, where Mary with baby Christ on her hands treads the clouds. The myriad of seraphs in the background testifies to the transparency of the scene to both worlds, and its consequent significance to our existence here, as well as there. Perhaps the artist intended for every little alabaster face to find a counterpart in someone on the side of the beholder.

Raphael (read this Britannica article on the artist) includes two little angels as a comic relief to the grave scene, in the best of theatrical traditions. These two seem ungainly in comparison to the Madonna’s stately posture, but not repulsive: on the contrary, they appeal to the viewer in a sympathetic, familiar way (the reason for their incredible popularity, even separately from the Madonna), facilitating contact with the rest of the image.

The humility of the saints becomes the next preparatory psychological step to be taken in order to confront Madonna herself — for she is truly formidable here, unlike Raphael’s usual depiction. She looks straight forward and down at the viewer, self-conscious and ecstatic, mystical and tragic, qualities underlined by the eerie light surrounding her frame.(Perhaps there is some similarity to Correggio’s use of light, or vice-versa.)

Christ’s expression is polar to that of the resting angels. He looks apprehensive, his eyes and pose betraying an almost adult awareness and seriousness. While the lower babes display boredom and impatience, Christ appears caught in the moment, aware of its significance for himself, in the future, and for the devout, in the present. In fact, he may be returning the gaze here, reflecting that of the viewers’ and deliberately engaging them.

All of the mentioned qualities endow the painting with unprecedented intensity. The clarity of the composition (the symmetrical arrangement of the actors) and the modest but strategical use of color make the tension even more lucid and almost palpable, almost unbearable I would say. This is a stark departure from the artist’s previous tame versions, and it signals a shift towards more complex psychological interpretations.

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The Sistine Madonna, the iconic Madonna with saints and cherubs that is the last painting Raphael finished with his own hands before his premature death, turns 500 years old this year. The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) in Dresden, proud owner of the masterpiece, is putting on a major new exhibition to celebrate the quincentennial. In honor of the special occasion, the painting has been reframed in what is basically a gilded temple, complete with modified Corinthian columns and a huge cornice.

In 1512, Raphael was commissioned by Pope Julius II to create an altarpiece of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child for the newly-built Benedictine Monastery of San Sisto in Piacenza. The pontiff required that the painting include Saint Sixtus, in tribute to his uncle Pope Sixtus IV, and Saint Barbara, one of Fourteen Holy Helpers whose powers of intercession are deemed particularly keen. Raphael finished the painting around 1513 or 1514. He died in 1520, and although he designed and worked on other Madonnas and paintings in the six or seven intervening years, his assistants did much of the work.

The painting remained enshrined over the altar in the little-known monastery until 1754 when Augustus III, absentee King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, purchased it from the Benedictines for 110,000-120,000 francs. Augustus III, like his father and grandfather before him, was an avid art collector. They created a world-class collection of Old Master paintings with the Sistine Madonna as the jewel in the crown. Legend has it that Augustus moved his throne so the painting could have the best light in the room, but the entire collection had been moved from Dresden Castle to the more spacious Stallgebäude (the Electors’ Stable Building) next door in 1747; thus, either Augustus wanted some alone time in the throne room with the Raphael for a while, or the story is apocryphal.

Raphael's Sistine MadonnaThe only Raphael in Germany, the Sistine Madonna was an immediate sensation. Even though Protestant Saxony was uneasy about its very recent Papist extraction and general Catholic imagery, the painting’s embrace of classicism (the Madonna could just as easily be a Juno and the composition follows the ancient principle of the sectio aurea or golden ratio) and its self-aware presentation as a piece of art (see the green curtains in the upper corners and the cherubs down below who rest against a balustrade much like the altar which the altarpiece was created to adorn) made it a favorite with budding Romantics and classicists alike. Goethe wrote a song about it; Wagner made special trips to Dresden just to see it; Alfred Rethel said, “I would not swap for a kingdom the delight I have had from standing before this picture,” and that was before he went insane.

As war loomed in 1938, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister closed up shop and removed its collection to safety in underground storage in Switzerland. Thus the Raphael survived the firebombing of Dresden that so severely damaged the gallery it wasn’t fully reconstructed until 1960. It also survived the Soviet army, which according to its own press had “saved” the precious painting from a flooded out cave. In fact the storage area was climate-controlled and entirely functional; the Soviets simply felt entitled to claim any and all of the enemy’s treasures as payment for all of their own cultural patrimony looted by the Nazis (see this excellent article for more on the subject).

In 1955, two years after the death of Stalin, the Soviet Union decide to return the Sistine Madonna to Germany as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen relations between the countries. The jewel in the crown went back on display in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

The cherubs, kitsch deities in their own rightThe 500th anniversary exhibit opened Saturday, May 26 and continues through August 26. It covers the painting’s checkered history in four sections: Raphael in Rome — an examination of the context in which Raphael painted the piece; Augustus III’s acquisition and the move from Piacenza to Dresden; the influence of the Sistine Madonna on art, literature, music and design; and lastly, a romp through the rich separate life of the two little cherubs at the bottom who were first copied on their own in 1800 and have been on everything from posters to coasters to t-shirts ever since.

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