Madonna of the Pinks
The
Madonna of the Pinks (
circa 1506-
1507,
Italian:
La Madonna dei garofani) is an early devotional painting by
Raphael. It is painted in
oils on fruitwood and now hangs in the
National Gallery,
London.
The painting depicts a youthful
Virgin Mary playing with the
Christ child and handing him
carnations. These flowers, known in
Greek as
dianthus (‘flower of God'), are a premonition of Christ's
Passion â€" according to Christian legend, the flower first appeared when the Virgin wept at the
Crucifixion. The event takes place in a dimly-lit domestic setting influenced by
Netherlandish art. The compostion is based closely on the
Benois Madonna by
Leonardo da Vinci, although the colour scheme of blues and greens that link the Virgin with the landscape is Raphael's own. Through the arched window is a landscape with a ruined building, symbolising the collapse of the pagan world at the birth of
Christ.
The subject matter and size of the painting, little larger than a
Book of Hours, suggest that it may have been intended as a portable aid to prayer. The identity of its original patron is unknown, although an inventory from the 1850s suggests that it was commissioned for Maddalena degli Oddi, a member of a prominent
Perugian family, after she had taken holy orders.
Only in the
21st century was the painting identified as a genuine Raphael. Although it had long been known to Raphael scholars, they considered it merely the best of several copies of a lost original. After a huge public appeal the Madonna of the Pinks was bought in 2004 by the National Gallery from the
Duke of Northumberland for £22 million, with contributions from the
Heritage Lottery Fund and the
National Art Collections Fund. To justify the vast expenditure it went on a nationwide tour to
Manchester,
Cardiff,
Edinburgh and
Barnard Castle.
*
2004 Review: The Annual Report of the National Art Collections Fund*
The Madonna of the Pinks on the official National Gallery website
