Landscape discovered in Raphael painting

X-ray discovery may rewrite an important page in the history of art

Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael, 1483-1520), 'Granduca' Madonna
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

(Corriere della Sera, 23rd December 2010):

Could a dark, almost black background surrounding the figures of one of Raphael's most famous paintings, the Granduca Madonna in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, change the story of a painter and the way he is researched? And it is possible that an analysis of the panel recently conducted by the OPD (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) in Florence could give a definitive answer to a question that has divided three generations of art historians between two theories: has the black background always existed, or was it added later? Here is the answer in a few words from Marco Ciatti: "The parts painted over the black background are successive retouchings." Is this an opinion? No, it is a certainty, because the X-ray fluorescence analysis, in practice a radiographic procedure that analyses the chemical components of the pigment, shows that the parts painted over the black background and the background itself are not original, but were added later than the Madonna and Child.

The x-ray image showing the layer of paint beneath the black background surrounding the Madonna and Child (1), with a balustrade behind them (2), a landscape (3), a corniced structure closing the view behind the Madonna (4), and another structure visible on the left (5) [photo: Corriere della Sera]

But to understand this we need to mention other factors. The Pitti Madonna is one of the last pictures showing Raphael's dialogue with Leonardo da Vinci. What is certain is that in all the Madonnas painted by Raphael in the years around 1505-07 a landscape appears, to mention only the Terranova Madonna in Berlin, the Madonna of the Meadow in Vienna, the Cowper Madonna in the National Gallery in Washington, the Madonna of the Goldfinch in the Uffizi and the Belle Jardinière in the Louvre. There is also a drawing in the Uffizi, which is universally recognised as a study for the Granduca Madonna. In this drawing one can see two things: the painter's initial idea was to paint an ovoid picture, later transformed into a rectangular one; also, in the drawing, unique architectural elements to the left and right are clearly marked. So Raphael envisaged the Pitti Madonna within a space constructed to give breadth and depth to the figures. Moreover the recent X-ray, conducted with new techniques, but preceded by another thirty years ago, has helped define the image painted by Raphael: the interior of a room, a window, perhaps a balustrade, and beyond this, to the right, a landscape. The painting was intended to contain architectural structures like in the Madonna in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and moreover Raphael, in this period, also painted portraits in an architectural landscape, such as the Lady with a unicorn in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, and the Portrait of a lady in the Louvre, a strongly Leonardo-esque design with a vast landscape background.

Lady with a unicorn Galleria Borghese, Rome

Raphael always paints his figures within a space, and immerses them in encircling light, so it is unthinkable that he painted the Granduca Madonna with the edges silhouetted against a black background. Critics, confronted with this issue, have suggested a change of mind by Raphael, which, after the Uffizi project, holds that the painting would originally have had an architectural background which Raphael then erased by superimposing a dark covering. This argument is undermined not only by the drawing in the Uffizi, but also by another 16th century painting  which clearly echoes the Granduca Madonna, and depicts the Virgin before a ledge with a large landscape behind. So, at least until the latter part of the sixteenth century, the architectural features and landscape of the Pitti tableau would have been visible. Taking into account the recent physical analysis of the painting, the black background could be an addition of the seventeenth century; it is certainly previous to its acquisition by the Grand Duke in 1800, when the painting was described as "peeled in some places," since the first copy of the painting, made in 1803, already shows the dark background.

Madonna and Child with St Joseph
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

But what difference does it make whether the Granduca Madonna has behind her an architectural landscape or a black background? The black contours surrounding the image of the Madonna and Child deprive the figures of space and prevent us from understanding the dialogue between Raphael and Leonardo, which culminated between 1505 and 1506. This dialogue necessarily implies an encircling light, an insertion of forms into a space which, for Leonardo, and thus also for Raphael, signified the continuity of creation and a subtle adherence to the 'philosophy of light', in other words Neoplatonic philosophy. Later, around 1506 and even more in 1507, Raphael moves towards Michelangelo, his forms become more distinct, volumes are emphasised. In the Granduca Madonna, even today one senses the presence of a soft encircling light which suffuses the figures, now shut off by the black outline.

So I think the elimination of the dark background is now required, to reveal the original text, but the question remains: what led to the covering up of Raphael's precious text which, as evidenced by the X -rays, still exists? Some marginal damage? And is the panel itself still intact or, as it seems, has it been cropped? In short, the problems are many; it is certain that we are confronted with a discovery that will forever change the image of the Granduca Madonna, diffused in millions of copies and now seen as almost holy. Think about it: we are about to see disappear forever the only known Raphael that was disguised as a Caravaggio!

Arturo Carlo Quintavalle
(translation: A Curran)

A Filippo Lippi Masterpiece in Milan

Filippo Lippi (1406-1469), Nativity or Adoration of the Christ Child with Saints
Museo Civico, Prato

An important work of the Tuscan Renaissance is currently on show in Milan. On the occasion of the eighth annual Masterpiece for Milan programme, the great painting of the Nativity by Filippo Lippi (1406-1469) will be on display at the Diocesan Museum in Milan until January 30, 2011, on loan from the Prato Civic Museum which is currently closed for restoration.

The Nativity scene takes place in the naturalism of a beautiful landscape among angels, shepherds, rocks and bushes. The Christ Child in swaddling clothes lies on the mantle of the Virgin kneeling before him. Beside them kneels the figure of St. Joseph absorbed in prayer, and to each side St. George and St. Vincent Ferrer, who beholds a vision of Christ in an illuminated mandorla. The profile of the Virgin has the features of Lucrezia Buti, the nun whom Fra Filippo Lippi fell in love with. The work, painted probably around 1456, was initially conceived as only the core group, to which Lippi added the figures of the two saints, perhaps at the request of his patrons.

Presentation of the painting by Luca Frigerio for Itleditore:


"He made so many admirable works that it really was a miracle." Perhaps this enthusiastic praise by Vasari should suffice to understand the artistic stature of Filippo Lippi, the Florentine friar whose life was to say the least adventurous, a superb painter of the Tuscan Renaissance already struck by the revolution of Masaccio. If, however, and with good reason, one wishes to see with one's own eyes the justification of such praise, one can visit the Diocesan Museum in Milan, where one of Lippi's most beautiful works will be on display until 30th January, a truly idyllic Nativity where all is silence and prayer, contemplation and truth.

This work, the choice for the eighth edition of the hit show A Masterpiece for Milan, is from Prato, a city where Fra' Filippo spent a long time making a series of works that art historians now assess as "the most important and significant body of work" in fifteenth century Italian art. The Nativity is a panel around a metre and half square, which was originally kept at the local Dominican monastery, portraying Mary and Joseph adoring the Christ Child in the context of the 'Holy Night', with the stable in the background with the ox and the ass, young shepherds who play bagpipes and horns, and in the heavens an angelic choir. On either side, two saints: to the left of the martyr St George, his hands joined like the Virgin's, his face pale and delicate, almost feminine, in contrast with the burnished armour of the seasoned warrior. On the right St Vincent Ferrer, wearing the habit of the Dominican order to which he belonged, in contemplation of Jesus but, surprisingly, not of the Divine Infant lying in front of him but of the apparition of Christ the Judge which is painted in miniature above his head, the first 'protagonist' of his impassioned preaching.

The presence of St Vincent can help in the dating of this painting, because the saint of Valencia, a supporter of the reunification of the Church during the schism of Avignon, was in fact canonized in 1455; it is plausible to think that the panel was commissioned from Filippo Lippi by the Dominicans in the months immediately following this event. A hypothesis confirmed by the fact that the painting seems to have been painted in two distinct stages, the two side figures having been added in later.

An orphan, having lost his mother at birth and his father when only a few years old, Filippo was reared by an aunt until out of infancy, and then as a young boy entrusted to the care of the Carmelites of Florence. He was not an exemplary student, but the brothers who were his teachers soon realised his extraordinary gift for drawing, and encouraged him on this path. A talent which, as related by Vasari, even saved his life: on leaving the monastery, while travelling through the March of Ancona, he was kidnapped and enslaved by saracen brigands, but was freed in exchange for a magnificent portrait he made of his master.

However Lippi, it seemed, wanted to bear witness to the union of genius and recklessness... Implicated in various trials, the friar while in Prato fell in love with a girl destined for the veil, "who had a wonderful air and grace," to quote again from Vasari. From this relationship Filippino was born, whom Filippo intended to follow his father's excellence in the arts. And tradition has it that in the face of the Christ Child, the painter has portrayed his newborn son, while that of Mary recalls the sweet features of his young mother. A "miracle" of grace and beauty, such as never seen before, as subsequently only Lippi Junior could equal, and, not surprisingly, Botticelli, the pupil of the same Fra' Filippo.

- Luca Frigerio (translated by A Curran)

Also in Milan, the Palazzo Marino has had Titian's masterpiece Woman with a Mirror on loan from the Louvre in Paris since the beginning of December. This display is due to end on 6th January 2011.

Tiziano Vecellio (Titian, 1490-1576), Woman with a Mirror
Musée du Louvre, Paris

This painting, created in the early 1500s, is being displayed along with copious historical background material and analysis, both aesthetic and scientific. It is presented in a glass display case designed to enhance the canvas and highlight all its details. Its colouring celebrates the beauty of a dreamy-looking young woman with bowed head, blue eyes, wavy blond hair, her bare shoulders revealing her unblemished skin, while the refinement of the chiaroscuro announces the great talent of the master which was about to become manifest. The charming lady is portrayed at a dressing table where, if one looks closely, a male figure holds out a hand mirror in his right hand, and behind her a larger convex mirror, enabling us to behold her from both front and back, Titian portrays all the aspects which characterised beauty and the feminine ideal in sixteenth century Venice.

This work is part of the collections of the Louvre, where it is normally displayed a short distance from the famous Mona Lisa, and its arrival in Milan is a collaborative effort of the city of Milan and the Paris museum, in order to promote the Italian cultural heritage.

Presentation of the exhibition by ArsLife Italy, including an interview with curator Valeria Merlini, and yet more wholly inappropriate background music, which seems to be de rigeur for all these video presentations:


For Italian speakers, here is a fifteen-minute feature on the background to the painting, presented in the inimitable 'sexy' style of Italian TV:

Canova App for i-Phone

The i-Canova app, launched in November 2010, is a virtual visit to the Canova Museum in Possagno  and constitutes a comprehensive guide to the museum, accessible with a few touches on an i-Phone or i-Pad screen.

Downloadable directly from the Apple AppStore, the application tells the story of the artist's life, describes the places where he worked, and presents his most important works displayed in landscape mode, in the picturesque setting of the Possagno museum, with the ability to access more detailed information on each work.

The Canova Museum in Possagno thus becomes the first museum in the Veneto region to develop a dedicated i-Phone App, fully functional and ready to use on the new i-Pad platform.

Possagno is the birthplace of the great neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822). The museum and gypsotheque, opened in 1836, houses original plaster casts of most of his great sculptures, along with terracotta models, drawings and paintings.

Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Portrait of Antonio Canova
Museo Canova, Possagno

Antonio Canova was born in Possagno (near Treviso), about 80 km from Venice, on November 1, 1757: at age four he lost his father, Pietro Canova, and his mother, Angela Zardo, was remarried soon after to Francesco Sartori and moved to the Crespano area, but Antonio remained in Possagno with his grandfather Pasino Canova, a stonemason and sculptor of local renown. These events marked Antonio Canova's sensibility for life. From an early age, he showed a natural inclination for sculpture, making small pieces with the clay of Possagno; it is said that at the age of six or seven, at a dinner of Venetian nobles in a villa in Asolo, he created a lion in butter with such skill that all the guests were astonished. The host, the Venetian Senator Giovanni Falier, recognised Antonio's artistic talents and undertook to oversee his study and training.

In 1768, Canova began working in the Torretti workshop in Pagnano d'Asolo, not far from Possagno: this environment was for little Antonio (whom everyone called "Tonin") a real school of art. The Torretti introduced him to the Venetian world, full of cultural and artistic ferment. In Venice, Canova frequented the classes at the Accademia on drawing from the nude, drawing inspiration from the collection of plaster casts in the gallery of Filippo Farsetti. After leaving the Torretti studio, he started his own workshop, and created the first works that made him famous in Venice and the Veneto: Orpheus and Euridice (1776), and Daedalus and Icarus (1779).

Unofficial video of the Gypsotheque in Passagno (slightly fixated on male posteriors):

Hercules and Lichas
Gipsoteca, Passagno

In 1779, Canova made his first trip to Rome, where he made his finest works (from the Three Graces to Cupid and Psyche, from the Funerary Monuments of Popes Clement XIII and XIV and Marie-Christine of Austria to the many mythological subjects, such as Venus and Mars, Perseus with the head of the Medusa, and Hector and Ajax) and where his patrons were kings, princes, popes and emperors from all over the world. In Rome, he stayed at the Palazzo Venezia, home of the Venetian ambassador Gerolamo Zulian, who was a great patron of Venetian artists such as Novelli, Selva, Quarenghi, Piranesi, Morghen and Volpato. Zulian secured Canova his first commissions in Rome, and commissioned from him directly Theseus and the Minotaur (1781) and Psyche (1793).

While there he met Domenica Volpato, daughter of the engraver Giovanni, with whom he had a troubled relationship. His reputation was growing in Italy and abroad; he received new and challenging commissions from all over Europe. Soon his art, modelled on the techniques of the ancient Greeks, from drawing to clay, from plaster to marble, developed into a formidable body of work, growing ever closer to the themes of classical mythology. "I work all day like a beast," he wrote to his friend Cesarotti, "but it is also true that I spend most of the day listening to volumes on Homer being read to me."

Orpheus and Eurydice
Museo Correr, Venice

The arrival of Napoleon on the European political scene (he was crowned emperor in 1804) led to a fertile period of artistic production for Canova (the Napoleon at Apsley House and other Napoleonic busts, the marble Letizia Ramolino, the famous Paolina at the Villa Borghese); at the same time he resisted the offer to become the official artist at the French Emperor's Court, and indeed in 1815, immediately after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Canova was in Paris, with his half-brother Giovanni Battista Sartori: thanks to his skillful diplomacy numerous valuable works of art stolen by Napoleon were brought back to Italy from France. Pius VII, in recognition of his great efforts in defence of Italian art, gave him the title of Marquis of Ischia, with an annuity of three thousand crowns, which he wished to donate in support of art academies.

In July 1819, Canova was in Possagno to lay the foundation stone of the temple that he wanted to construct and donate to his community as a parish church: this majestic building would only be completed ten years after his death on October 13, 1822, in the house of his friend Francesconi in Venice. His body, at the behest of his half-brother, was first buried in the old parish church, and in 1832 transferred to the Temple.

Report by ArsLife on the 2009 Canova exhibition in Forli: Canova - The Classical Ideal in Sculpture and Painting:


Today in Possagno, visitors to the places known to Antonio Canova, the dining room, the garden, the arcade, the great pine tree he planted himself, the scuderia, the kitchen, the 'little tower" ... can still hear the locals speak of him, of his "holidays" devoted to painting, of the simple and rustic feasts his devoted countrymen held for him when he returned from Rome or Paris or Vienna, and immersed himself in the peace of his own countryside and his home.

Canova Museum, Passagno official website
Gallery of works in the Canova Museum in Passagno

Paolina Borghese as Venus Vinctrix
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Cupid and Psyche
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Perseus with the Head of the Medusa
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Daedalus and Icarus
Museo Correr, Venice

Theseus and the Minotaur
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Tomb of Pope Clement XIII
Basilica of St Peter, Rome

Philippe Jaroussky sings Caldara

Philippe Jaroussky sings Caldara: Forgotten Arias
Film of a concert given at the Prinzregenttheater, Munich
along with footage from the rehearsals
Director: Claus Wischmann (2009)
Running time: 43 mins

Arias by Antonio Caldara (1670-1736)
+ Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for violoncello in D minor RV 407

Philippe Jaroussky - countertenor
Concerto Köln
directed by Emmanuelle Haim

French singer Philippe Jaroussky is passionately dedicated to forgotten repertoires. After bringing back to life the legendary castrato Carestini, and exhuming the works of a forgotten Bach (La dolce fiamma), he now focuses on the Italian opera composer Antonio Caldara. Philippe Jaroussky has been perusing Caldara's vast catalogue for some time, and has unearthed more than one unjustly forgotten aria.

Accompanied by Concerto Köln, Philippe Jaroussky now brings these works into the 21st century. Arte TV's Maestro series followed the singer and musicians during their reappropriation of these unknown works and filmed excerpts from their presentation in concert at Munich's Prinzregententheater.

Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) was one of the greatest opera composers of his time. In Mantua, Barcelona and Rome, but especially at the imperial court in Vienna, he composed over seventy works for the stage. Caldara straddles the Italian art of melody and Germanic counterpoint. He managed to combine these two styles, where many others had tried in vain. From this vast repertoire, Philippe Jaroussky has chosen songs that match his voice, combining lyric sweetness and vocal clarity. With Concerto Köln, he sought out arias which each express a unique mood. The result is a programme rich in colours and emotions, driven by ever-changing forms of expression.

Up to this point, the musicians could not draw on any recordings of works by Caldara; Philippe Jaroussky and Concerto Köln were thus travelling through unexplored territory, in the footsteps of an almost forgotten composer. Maestro accompanies the musicians on this journey with excerpts from the concert and rehearsals. Their concert tour culminated in the release in November 2010 of the album Caldara in Vienna by Philippe Jaroussky with Concerto Köln under Emmanuelle Haim.

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