Resumen de Raphael: a sorority of Madonnas
Part of a special section on Raphael on the occasion of “Raphael: From Urbino to Rome,” an exhibition at the National Gallery, London, through January 16, 2005. The writer introduces two additional Madonna compositions into Raphael's late Florentine work. He discusses the version of the artist's Madonna of the pinks in the National Gallery and another version of this work in the collection of the Earl of Pembroke at Wilton House, Salisbury, England. Arguing that the Pembroke painting is an accurate early copy of a now lost original, he contends that this original must once have been an only slightly less Leonardesque and less glamorous twin to the London version. Noting that there was also a third sister, he concludes that the integration of these two further Madonna compositions into the artist's late Florentine work enhances understanding of his energy, sophistication, and versatility; his interest in transalpine art and in sculpture; and his restless experimentation.
