Painting being NOT the original
but inspired by the original artist:
Raphael Santi 1483-1520
“Madonna della Sedia” (1514)
"Madonna of the Chair"
Famous Italian Artist of the late
1400's (lived in Italy during the time
of Michael Angelo).
Marla Moser purchased the antique
reproduction from a Greek Art Dealer
in the winter of 2006.
There is no signature. The painting
is over two hundred years old judging from the
canvas and the frame.
The original is round having
been painted on the top of a wine barrel.
This painting is square and the eyes are a different
color than the original.
Never the less the artist was able to produce museum
quality and captures the mystery and intrigue of the
relationship of the Madonna with her child Jesus.
It seems obvious that the unknown artist must have
been a student of one of the great art schools of Italy.
It is with great pleasure that we are able to share
the painting with our clients.
It will be displayed at the Texas Masterpiece when it is
not loaned out for exhibits.
Although this painting is not the original,
the image is great and the history of the
original artist may be interesting to you.
Raphael Santi was born in Urbino/Umbria, Italy
on April 6, 1483. The boy was taught by
his father Giovanni Santi, an honest painter.
Raphael is 11 when his father dies. At age 16
he leaves for Perugia. He is admitted into
the school of Il Perugino, his true teacher and master.
In 1502/1503 he spent 15 months with Pinturicchio in
Siena.
At 19 Raphael is still a timid, somewhat mystically
inclined young painter of provincial origin and habits. His first Madonnas
are young, with pouting mouth, round face and veiled head.
The posture is traditional and rigid, the form at times fuzzy. Already
his exceptional qualities of simplicity, grace and armony in color
and composition can be noted. His admiration goes to Fra Angelico whose
Madonnas seem to escape gravity. He emulates his master Il Perugino but already
his own genius transpires.
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/
gallery/artists/raphael.html
32. Madonna della Sedia
1514 appr
oil on tondo
71 cm diameter
This painting is named after the chair (sedia) in which the Madonna is
sitting. Painted between 1510 and 1514, t is of Raphael’s own hand – undisputedly.
Considered by many the most popular and most widely disseminated of all Raphael madonnas, it was probably painted for Pope Leo X, or one of the Medici.The Virgin holds the
Infant on her lap, the glances of both mother and child are directed to an undetermined
group of onlookers. Saint John, as is often the case in Raphael’s Madonna
paintings, stands in adoration to the right of Jesus and Mary.
A pretty legend is attached to this painting which tells
the story of a hermit, the beautiful daughter of a wine-dresser
and Raphael.
“Centuries ago, there dwelt among the Italian hills near Rome a venerable
hermit, whom the people called Father Bernardo. During a terrible storm his life
was saved by Mary, the beautiful daughter of a wine-dresser, and by an old oak-tree
in whose branches he had taken refuge; so he prayed to God to distinguish them in some way.
Years passed away, the hermit died, and the oak-tree was converted into casks
for Mary’s father. One day Mary was sitting by one of these casks playing with
her children, the elder of whom ran towards her with a stick made into the shape
of a cross. Raphael had long been seeking a model for a picture of the Virgin
and Child; just then he passed by, and seeing the group, stopped and drew them on
the smooth cover of the wine cask.
This he took away with him, and on it painted the Madonna della Sedia.
Thus was the blessing and desire of the old hermit realized, and Mary and the oak were distinguished for all time.”
[Mrs. Clement,
“Christian Symbols and Stories of the Saints,” pp. 213-4.]Pitti Gallery, Florence
Dominica, em.
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