Raphael's Madonna and Child with a Book is on display in the Norton Simon

Museum. It is oil on panel, 21 3/4" by 15 3/4". He painted it about 1503.

Raphael (Raffaello Santi) an Italian painter of the High Renaissance, was
born on April 6, 1483, in the town of Urbino, and he died in 1520 (Golzio 585).
He received his early training in art from his father, the painter Giovanni
Santi. In 1499 he went to Perugia, in Umbria, and became a student and
assistant of the painter Pietro Perugino. Raphael's father considered Perugino
one of the two best painters of the time, the other being Leonardo (Beck 10).
Raphael imitated his master closely; their paintings of this period are executed
in styles so similar that art historians have found it difficult to determine
which were painted by Raphael. "In fact, Perugino's Crucifixion with the
Virgin, St. John, St. Jerome, and St. Mary Magdalene was thought to be by
Raphael until evidence proved it was given to the church of San Gimigniano in
1497, when Raphael was only 14" (Pioch, "Raphael" 1). Among Raphael's
independent works executed at Perugia are two large-scale paintings, the
Marriage of the Virgin (1504), and the Crucifixion (1502-1503). These paintings
follow the style of the Umbrian school, with its emphasis on perspective and
rigidly geometrical composition. Later, he would learn a more animated,
informal manner of painting from the Florentine and, later, the Venetian
painters.
Raphael was the youngest of the three great masters who created the High
Renaissance style in Italy, the other two being Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo (Beck 9). The fourth master of the High Renaissance was younger
than Raphael; his name was Titian. "Each began his artistic career with an
apprenticeship to a painter who was already of good standing, and each took the
same path of first accepting, then transcending, the influence of his first
master" (Pioch, "Leonardo da Vinci" 2).
Raphael went to Rome in 1508, and he worked for Popes Julius II and Leo X.
His quick mind and courteous manners helped to gain entry into the Vatican
circle. He brought his remarkable talent for design to the task of giving a
new, heroic expression to the pictorial arts. From 1508 to 1515, he developed a
style of coloring that was different from his earlier work (Stearns 198). The
quality of his work set a standard that inspired artists for many generations.
In 1503, when he painted the Madonna and Child with a Book, Raphael was an
assistant of Perugino, but he was already painting some important works (Fischel
24). During the period from 1504 to 1508, while he lived in Florence, he became
known as the "painter of Madonnas" (Fischel 44). His small Cowper Madonna
(1505) shows the influence of Leonardo in its "softness of contour and
perfection of balance" (Pioch, "Raphael" 2). During Raphael's first visit to
Florence, from 1504 to 1508, "Leonardo and Michelangelo were both working there,
and as a result Raphael adopted new working methods and techniques--particularly
influenced by Leonardo--and his paintings took on a more vigorous graphic
energy" (Pioch, "Raphael" 2).
Madonna and Child with a Book is typical of Raphael's early, Umbrian
works. It shows the strong influence of his teacher, Perugino, and other
paintings of this period, including the Crucifixion (1502-1503) and Coronation
of the Virgin (1503-1504) are referred to as "Peruginesque" (Beck 15). These
paintings have bright colors. There is nothing subtle or animate in their
composition. Yet they are technically competent. On the other hand, the
Madonna and Child with a Book seems less formal and more alive. It has the
perfect composition of his earlier style, so it is not quite as kinetic as some
of his later works. Yet it hints at motion through the eye-contact between
mother and child, as well as the hands of both figures on the book.
This portrait has simple, balanced, serene figures in natural poses. The
passage of almost five hundred years has caused some cracks in the paint, but
this work of art still has great beauty. The composition is organized
geometrically. The Madonna and Child form the shape of a pyramid. Their faces
and bodies are idealized. They are placed in a measured, balanced, and
harmonious relationship to each other and to the distant landscape. This
landscape is in the chiaroscuro style, which shows the influence of Correggio
and Tintoretto (Stearns 173). Tintoretto was a Venetian painter said to have
the motto, "The drawing of Michelangelo and the color of Titian" (Pioch,
"Tintoretto" 1) hanging on his wall. Thus, the influence of Tintoretto can be
seen in the deep blue arch of the Madonna's silhouette that encloses the figure
of the Child and frames the book, which is emphasized by the hands that hold it.
The inscription in the book introduces the ninth hour or Nones of the
Canonical Offices recited daily by all monastic communities, "the hour for
meditation on Christ's crucifixion and death" (Abdo 24). The Nones is a late
hour, and the sky is getting darken while soft shadows form on the landscape.
Each hour held a specific meaning for meditation and the Nones commemorated
Christ's Crucifixion and Death. The Christ Child contemplates, with eyes turned
to heaven, his own sacrifice as our Redeemer. This painting portrays a
beautiful image of the Madonna and Child, and it also creates a mood of
meditation. This image could guide the worshipper to love Christ in his
helplessness. This deeply spiritual quality was the reason Raphael's Madonnas
were in such high demand. It belongs to Raphael's Umbrian period, yet it also
shows that he must have studied other styles and incorporated some of their
elements into the Madonna and Child with a Book.
This painting seems effortless, but it is actually the result of long,
hard work. The sweet Madonna and child are Raphael's vision of the Holy Virgin
and the Christ child. One can see the influence of Michelangelo's conception of
God the Father. One can also see the influence of Leonardo's style in the
simplicity of the design. The painting has a calm beauty. The Virgin's face is
modeled and filled with light, and Raphael makes us feel the volume of the body
wrapped in the freely flowing mantle, and the firm and tender way in which she
holds and supports the Christ Child. All this contributes to the effect of
perfect poise. Any change would upset the whole harmony. There is nothing
strained or unnatural in the composition. It looks as if it could not be
otherwise, and as if it had so existed from the beginning of time.
The people seem real, and they obviously have an intimate relationship.
"The true merit of Raphael lies in his delicacy of expression and dramatic
power. It was his delight to represent continually the pride and affection with
which a mother regards her young child" (Stearns 173).
His use of light and shadow, anatomy, and dramatic action reflect his
careful study of the masters, including Leonardo and Michelangelo. His
development during the Florentine period can best be traced in his numerous
Madonnas. The earliest example, still Umbrian in inspiration, is the Madonna
del Granduca (1504-05). Later examples, showing the influence of Leonardo in
serenity of expression and composition, include La Belle Jardinière (1507-08,)
and the Madonna of the Goldfinch (1505). The last of his Madonnas executed at
Florence, the Madonna del Baldacchino (1508), is a monumental altarpiece and is
similar in style to the work of Fra Bartolommeo. Raphael's most important
commissions during his stay in Florence came from Umbria. His most original
composition of this period is the Entombment of Christ (1507), an altarpiece
that shows the strong influence of Michelangelo in the postures and anatomical
development of the figures (Beck 23-26; Fischel 44-54).

This influence of artists from outside of Umbria is already evident in the

Madonna and Child with a Book. For example, a "Sketch of a landscape," in the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, shows the basic plan of the painting. Its date is
uncertain, but it must have been done before the painting, and it "appears to
recall the Madonnas of Luca or Andrea della Robbia, both for its clear outlines,
for the pose and for the affectionate relationship of Mother and Child"
(Tempesti 322). He is beginning to make a break from the Umbrian style, and he
is definitely showing some Florentine influence.
Works by other artists of the High Renaissance exhibit the same quality of
animation that one finds in Raphael's Madonna and Child with a Book. For
example, the Norton Simon Museum houses The Coronation of the Virgin, by Gerard
David, which was painted some time after 1500. The Mother is looking down at
the child in her arms, while the child plays with a flower that she is holding
out to him. Above them, two angels are carrying the crown down from heaven to
place on her head. But David's painting lacks the sense of human connection
which Raphael creates by having the mother and child gaze into each other's
eyes. Leonardo's famous portrait, the Mona Lisa--also known as La Giaconda--
creates that sense of connection because the woman's eyes seem to gaze into the
eyes of the viewer. This was painted during Leonardo's second Florentine
period, between 1503 and 1506. "Raphael nearly approached Leonardo in his
expression of intelligence, but no hands he ever painted can be compared to
those of the Mona Lisa" (Stearns 196). However, Raphael's Madonna of the
Goldfinch (1505) comes close. Since this was painted "when Giorgione's fame was
at its height, we may safely conclude it was Raphael's first attempt in the
Venetian style" (Stearns 197).
Giorgione was Titian's second teacher, after Giovanni Bellini, and "after
Giorgione's early death in 1510 it fell to Titian to complete a number of his
unfinished paintings" (Pioch, "Titian" 1). Raphael probably did not finish any
of his teacher's works, but he did seem to copy the works of some of the masters
of his time. For example, his ink on paper drawing, Half-Length Study of a
Woman (circa 1506), is posed nearly the same as the Mona Lisa. However, her
eyes are more open and less mysterious than the eyes of Leonardo's enigmatic
smiling lady. Raphael's La Muta, also known as The Silent Woman (1506-1507) has
about the same pose as the Mona Lisa (Beck 23).
Michelangelo's painting of The Doni Holy Family (circa 1503), in oil on
panel, has the connection among the people in the portrait which is achieved by
having them make eye contact with each other. The mother gazes up at the child,
the child gazes down at her, and the father gazes sideways at them both. In
fact, Michelangelo seems to exhibit the accomplishment of a master, which
Raphael is only beginning to achieve by imitating the works of Leonardo and
Michelangelo. "The ingredients of Raphael's style of portraiture, and other
subjects as well, resulted from the ingestion of a range of impulses filtered by
his own training and his own increasingly independent artistic vision" (Beck
23). Leonardo's The Doni Holy Family, also known as The Holy Family or Doni
Tondo, is not a pretty picture, "but its stark power stays in the mind when more
accessible paintings have been forgotten" (Pioch, "Michelangelo" 2). Raphael's
Madonna and Child with a Book is also memorable, but it is powerful without
being stark. It has the beauty of the love between a mother and her child.
The Madonna and Child with a Book shows that, relatively early in his
career, Raphael had begun to digest the styles of other artists and to make
their techniques his own. He learned his formal style from Perugino, and
perhaps also from his father. He learned to draw with perfect skill. However,
he applied that skill to a form with more freedom, a form which could break the
rules and still create a great work of art. He learned from Michelangelo and
Leonardo to impart motion and life to the still figures in his paintings. They
are animated because the viewer expects them to move. They are not static
images from the past. They are living beings captured in paint.
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Beck, James H. Raphael. New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., 1976.
Fischel, Oskar. Raphael. Trans. Bernard Rackham. London:
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Golzio, Vincent. "Life." The Complete Work of Raphael. Ed.
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Pioch, Nicolas. "Leonardo da Vinci." Webmuseum, Paris, May 20,
1996, 4 pages.
Pioch, Nicolas. "Michelangelo." Webmuseum, Paris, June 11, 1996,
4 pages.
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Pioch, Nicolas. "Tintoretto." Webmuseum, Paris, Oct. 21, 1995,
2 pages.
Pioch, Nicolas. "Titian." Webmuseum, Paris, June 10, 1996,
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