“The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael

“The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael

“The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael depicts the Virgin Mary playing with the Christ child and handing him carnations. The Italian title is the Madonna of the Carnation.

The botanical name of these flowers is dianthus, which in Greek mean ‘Flower of God.’

The sunny landscape through the arched window shows a ruined building, symbolizing the collapse of the pagan world at the birth of Christ. The dimly-lit room setting demonstrates the influence of Netherlandish art on this painting.

This masterpiece is a relatively small devotional painted for Christian contemplation, and its owner could have held the painting in their hand. 

Raphael has transformed this familiar subject from the earlier formal stiffly posed pictures of earlier traditions into a new approach. He is celebrating the tender emotions between a young mother and her child.

Raphael

Raphael was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he is one of the great masters of that period. 

Raphael was enormously productive, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career.

The best-known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican.

Raphael’s career started in Umbria. Then for four years, he spent time in Florence, absorbing the artistic renaissance of Florence. Then his last twelve years in Rome, he worked for two Popes and their associates.

The Madonna of the Pinks

• Title:              The Madonna of the Pinks
• Alternative:    The  Madonna of the Carnation
• Italian:            La Madonna dei garofani
• Artist:             Raphael
• Created:         1507
• Medium:        Oil on yew wood
• Periods:          High Renaissance
• Dimensions:  Height: 27.9 cm (10.9 in); Width: 22.4 cm (8.8 in)
• Museum:        National Gallery, London

Raphael

• Name:            Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino
• Born:              1483 – Urbino, Marche, Italy
• Died:              1520 (aged 37) –  Rome, Italy
• Movement:   High Renaissance
• Notable Works
  • Madonna in the Meadow
  • The Alba Madonna
  • The School of Athens
  • Small Cowper Madonna
  • The Madonna of the Pinks
  • Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary
  • The Marriage of the Virgin
  • Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione

Raphael: The Renaissance Virtuoso

A Tour of The National Gallery

15th Century Paintings

• “Arnolfini Portrait” by Jan van Eyck –  1434
• “The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello– 1440
• “Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli – 1483
• “Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Giovanni Bellini– 1501

16th Century Paintings

• “Mystic Nativity” by Sandro Botticelli – 1550
• “Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci – 1506
• “The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael – 1507
• “The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo– 1519
• “Salvator Mundi” by Andrea Previtali – 1519
• “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian – 1523
• “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger – 1533
• “Mary Magdalene” by Girolamo Savoldo – 1540
• “Saint George and the Dragon” by Tintoretto – 1558
• “The Family of Darius before Alexander” by Paolo Veronese – 1567
• “Diana and Actaeon” by Titian – 1569
• “The Rape of Europa” by Paolo Veronese – 1570
• “The Death of Actaeon” by Titian – 1575
• “The Origin of the Milky Way” by Tintoretto – 1575

17th Century Paintings

• “Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio – 1601
• “Samson and Delilah” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1610
• “Christ in the House of Martha and Mary” by Diego Velázquez – 1618
• “The Judgement of Paris” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1635
• “Aurora abducting Cephalus” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1637
• “Equestrian Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony van Dyck – 1638
• “Venus at her Mirror” by Diego Velázquez – 1651
• “The Courtyard of a House in Delft” by Pieter de Hooch – 1658
• “Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt – 1669
• “A Young Woman standing at a Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer – 1670

18th Century Paintings

• “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci – 1713
• “A Regatta on the Grand Canal” by Canaletto – 1740
• “Mr and Mrs Andrews” by Thomas Gainsborough – 1749
• “Eton College” by Canaletto – 1754
• “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby – 1768
• “Self-portrait in a Straw Hat” by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – 1782

Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch

Raphael, Alba Madonna

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“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
– Leonardo da Vinci

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Photo Credit 1) Raphael [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons