It took an act of papal intervention for Raphael’s “Madonna of Foligno” to leave the Vatican and travel to Dresden, where she is on show alongside her sister, the “Sistine Madonna,” for the first time.
Pope Benedict XVI is paying an official visit to Germany, his native country, from Sept. 22 to 25.
To coincide with his stay - which includes meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel and her former boss, Helmut Kohl - he wanted a “unique cultural event,” according to Germany’s ambassador to the Holy See, Walter Juergen Schmid.
Though the Madonna is one of the artworks that, on principle, never leaves the Vatican Pinacoteca, the Pope allowed an exception to be made.
Dresden’s Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister, housed in the sandstone grandeur of the Baroque Zwinger palace, is using the occasion to show the Raphaels with Madonnas by Albrecht Duerer, Lucas Cranach and Matthias Gruenewald among others.
The “Sistine Madonna,” which turns 500 next year, is Dresden’s best-known painting and arguably one of the most famous paintings in the world.
…
It was the Foligno Madonna who first grabbed the fancy of the Saxon elector and Polish king, August III.
In 1750, his court sent an agent to the Umbrian town of Foligno to buy the painting. He returned empty-handed. Four years later, August acquired the Sistine Madonna.
It took a while for her popularity to catch on: Not until about 1800 was the painting discovered by a wider public.
…
There can be no doubt they are related, though the Sistine Madonna is tinged brown by an aging lacquer, while the Foligno Madonna, which has been restored recently, has lush reds and blues that shine from the canvas.
Like the Sistine Madonna, Mary rests on a cloud, yet here she is lit from behind by the sun.
The cloud appears solid enough to support her and Jesus, who seems to be struggling to get down from her lap, as toddlers do.
Raphael’s rough-looking John the Baptist sports a bearskin and wild hair, though his beard is neatly trimmed.
He points to the Madonna in a gesture that inspired Leonardo da Vinci to paint John in a similar pose.