Raphael: Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints

Madonna and Child

Enthroned with Saints

Raphael

 

Artist:    

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) 

(Italian, Urbino 1483–1520 Rome)

Date:    ca. 1504

Medium:    Oil and gold on wood

Raphael painted this altarpiece around 1504/5 for the small Franciscan convent of Sant' Antonio in Perugia. It hung in a part of the church reserved for the nuns, who are thought to have insisted on some of its conservative features, such as the elaborately clothed Christ Child. 

By contrast, the grave male saints are among the earliest evidence of Raphael’s study of the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo in Florence. 

The Museum also owns a scene from the base (predella).

The Colonna family in Rome acquired the altarpiece in 1678, and it is sometimes referred to by their name. 

Its purchase by the New York financier J. Pierpont Morgan received world press coverage. 

The frame is of the period but not original. 

For more information about this painting, including a reconstruction of the altarpiece, visit metmuseum.org. 

Dimensions:    

Main panel, overall 67 7/8 x 67 7/8 in. (172.4 x 172.4 cm), 

painted surface 66 3/4 x 66 1/2 in.  (169.5 x 168.9 cm); 

lunette, overall 29 1/2 x 70 7/8 in. (74.9 x 180 cm), 

painted surface 25 1/2 x 67 1/2 in. (64.8 x 171.5 cm)