16th Century Madonna of the Carnations Painting Oil on Canvas from Raffaello

The Madonna dei Garofani made by Raffaello Sanzio (Urbino, 1483 – Rome, 1520) has become a very successful iconographic model and has many replicas, such as the one examined here.
The Raphaelesque original, now exhibited at the National Gallery in London, was made between 1503 and 1507, when the painter was about 23 years old. The London specimen has been identified as the original and there are about fifty copies of it as evidence of the great success achieved among the clients (Madonna di Siracursa, Madonna Chatron; there is also a copy made by Federico Barocci – Galleria Borghese). Influence on Raphael by Leonardo da Vinci and, in particular, of the Benois Madonna (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The sacred image also owes its diffusion to the numerous engravings that circulated from shop to shop.
Raphael’s painting is a religious work intended for private devotion. Raphael manages to transform the classic subject of the Madonna and Child into a representation with a familiar tone. The young mother and her son are no longer depicted in rigid and formal poses, as in the paintings of previous artists, but have abandoned all formality, letting themselves go into a tenderly intimate attitude and letting all the emotions of their relationship shine through. The Madonna exchanges with Jesus some small red carnations which represent by their color the blood that Jesus will shed in the future on the cross (according to tradition, the carnation is considered a symbol of divine love and it is believed that it blossomed from the earth where the tears of the Virgin during the Passion of Christ.). Furthermore, they also refer to the marriage between Christ and the universal Church represented by Mary. Finally, the four-poster bed symbolizes the virginity of the Madonna.
This replica, to be dated to the 16th century, was created by an artist familiar with the Raphaelesque original, an image that spread mainly through engravings. The entire composition is overturned with respect to the autographed copy, but here too the Virgin and Child Jesus are in a room immersed in the shade. Maria wears a pink dress (in the original gray) decorated on the sleeves with puffed motifs. In addition, she wears on her legs the blue cloak on which the white pillow rests. The Child, on the other hand, is naked (even if a soft cloth cores his nakedness) and sits on the legs of the Mother and observes the flowers that he holds in her hands. Inside there is a canopy bed and from the window you can glimpse a countryside landscape with some ruins.