L. Baroli, after Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), Italian
Madonna del Granduca, undated copy
OIL ON CANVAS, 33 x 32 inches
Gift of Horace Fairbanks

This reproduction of one of Raphael’s early masterworks conveys a send of the delicacy and sensitivity that distinguish the original painting. The Madonna del Granduca (Madonna of the Grand Duke) demonstrates the artists early emphasis upon the Madonna's modesty. She does not meet our gaze, but instead looks downward, maintaining perfect tranquility and decorum in an age that celebrated the idealization of divine figures. Renaissance naturalism (in contrast to its nineteenth-century form) favored the appearance of humanity in portray­als of the holy family and saints, but not with individual specificity, which was the preserve of portraiture. The Virgin Mary and infant Jesus had to appear human, but still embody an ideal of flawless grace.