Renaissance Blog

 

Madonna in The Meadow by Raphael 1505

    Raphael was an Italian Renaissance painter and architect. He is best known for his Madonnas and for his painting The School of Athens. I was drawn to this specific Madonna painting because of the way each figure fits perfectly into the frame. This painting depicts the Virgin Mary with Christ and St. John the Baptist. If you pay attention to the details, it seems Madonna is holding Christ in a sort of motherly way, like she is holding him up as he stands. The placement of her hands shows she is gently holding Christ with her left hand resting on his stomach as support and her right hand on his back for extra support. As well as her posture is relaxed, like she is calmly watching the two boys. Her face can be viewed as either content in the moment or, depending on how you look at it, her face seems to be frowning. It is all a matter of perspective. A rather intriguing element of this painting is that the figures are portrayed in a pyramid-like format; if you look closely, there is a triangular element with the placement of Madonna's foot at the right edge of the painting as well as the placement of St. John the Baptist's left leg at the left corner of the painting. The formation creates a triangular shape. Also, the position of Christ, the staff, and St. John the Baptist create a smaller triangle. So in this painting there are two triangles between the figures. I find this element very interesting because although there are triangles that are associated with sharp edges, the figures in the painting are soft and humanlike and display a sense of softness. 

“The Madonna of the Meadow.” Kunsthistorisches Museum, www.khm.at/en/objectdb/detail/1502/#:~:text=The%20Madonna%20of%20the%20Meadow.%20The%20group%20formed%20into%20a. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.

“Move to Florence of Raphael.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 16 Aug. 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Raphael-Italian-painter-and-architect/Move-to-Florence.