Beside the Madonna del cardellino, there are only four other paintings, and thats it. A portrait, the Gravida, an order for Raphael when he was staying in Florence between the year 1504 and the year 1508, documenting the other style (in parallel to the paintings of the Madonna) in which Sanzio started while he was was in permanence in Florence.

The second portrait is called “Monaca”, was produced by a master from florence, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, who was the son of the great Domenico and a good friend of Raphael , they both had the same age, shows well the influence the young painter from Urbino had over his colleagues and friends on the banks of the Arno.

A small wooden panel, once used as a portrait “cover” and covered with grotesque motifs (it was thought that Raphael himself had done it, but it was later found out that it had been the work of Ridolfo), is a proof of the stylistic consonance between Florence and the master.Furthermore, if this “cover” seems to have been created precisely for the Monaca.

A glazed terracotta magnificant sculpture by the artist Girolamo della Robbia representing the Madonna and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist that it reproduces identically the La Belle Jardinière by Raphael which is exposed in the Louvre. This is a perfect example of the immediate diffusion and influence, in sculptures and in paintings, not only of the expressions, but also of the inventions of Raphael.

And appropriately the Parisian Madonna, which unfortunately was never finished by the artist from Urbino, was according reliable sources, finished at the demanded of Sanzio by the same Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio to whom the Monaca and its “cover” are now designated: this shows a strong relationship between the two artists. Their communion of affection and style appears strikingly as to induce the conjecture that it was precisely Ridolfo who undertook the restoration of the Madonna del cardellino, after it got damaged in it’s home which was an old palace, following a landslide in 1548. It is rather suggestive to see two works by Ridolfo in the same room in palazzo Medici: he  the first restorer beside with the last restoration.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Florence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.