Virgen con el Niño entronizados y santos

Nuns in Perugia may have asked for something unusual: a fully clothed Christ Child and young John the Baptist. Raphael's Colonna Altarpiece is the only altarpiece by him in the United States.

The story behind the painting

Raphael painted this altarpiece around 1503 to 1505 for the Franciscan convent of Sant'Antonio da Padova in Perugia. The nuns may have made the unique request that the Christ Child and John the Baptist be shown fully clothed. Some believe the lunette was finished after the central panel, because Saints Peter and Paul look far more modern, perhaps inspired by Raphael's first visit to Florence and his encounter with the work of Fra Bartolomeo and Leonardo da Vinci. Wikidata dates the work 1504.

What to look for

The Christ Child sits on Mary's lap and blesses a young John the Baptist. Around them stand Saint Peter, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, an unidentified female saint and Saint Paul. The source names the saints as the young Baptist, Peter, Catherine, Lucy and Paul in the full title, but also calls one of them an unknown female saint. Notice how covered the two children are, unusual for the time. Compare the calm, older manner of the main panel with the livelier figures of Peter and Paul, where Florence may already be speaking.

Meaning and intent

This is a work from the moment when the young Raphael was moving towards the High Renaissance. The altarpiece was made for a community of Franciscan nuns, and the modest dress of the children may reflect their wishes. The shift in style between parts of the painting lets us glimpse an artist learning in real time: the Perugian tradition in the throne group, and the influence of Leonardo and Fra Bartolomeo in the saints. It is a sacred image and, at the same time, a record of a painter's growth.

Legacy

The predella panels were separated and sold to Queen Christina of Sweden, then passed into the Orléans Collection. Today they are in the National Gallery in London, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum, which has the Agony in the Garden. A drawing for that scene is in the Morgan Library. The main panels went to the Colonna family in Rome, who gave the altarpiece its name, then to the Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Colnaghi and Charles Sedelmeyer. J. P. Morgan bought it in the early 20th century, the last Raphael altarpiece in private hands. It is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.