DR. BETH HARRIS:
We're in the Louvre, and we're looking at a painting
by Raphael called La Belle Jardinire. And it's a lovely
Raphael Madonna and Child with the infant
Saint John the Baptist in that pyramid composition
that we so often associate with the
High Renaissance. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
What's interesting is that the Virgin Mary is not
in a religious environment. We see no archways, and
she's got no throne. If we're to argue that
she had a throne at all, it would be the
throne of nature. She sits on a rock in a field
with a beautiful atmospheric perspective behind her
creating this lovely, verdant environment. DR. BETH HARRIS: As we look
down at the foreground, we seen plants, perhaps the edge
of a pond, and little flowers. The loveliest passages
to me are the way that Christ, on the left,
stands on his mother's foot, really showing that kind
of dependence on his mother and yet also a growing
sense of independence as he seeks to take the
book out of her hands and looks up at her. And of course the
content of that book foretells his own demise. It foretells the crucifixion. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: And
the look on Mary's face is one that suggests
that she knows this. She's looking at him
to, in a sense, gauge whether or not he's
ready for that knowledge. DR. BETH HARRIS: She puts
her right arm around him, protecting him, and
seems to hesitate for a moment with her
left hand whether to allow him to take that book or not. Saint John the Baptist, who
kneels in prayer toward Christ, is in a very graceful pose as he
kneels down on his right knee, tilts his neck up, and
looks up at Christ. We have that High Renaissance
gracefulness and ideal beauty. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Let's
look for just a moment at the gazes within
the painting. I think you're right to
start with John the Baptist and his eyes gazing up at
Christ, who in turn's body and face moves up to Mary. And Mary then returns that
gaze, in a sense our gaze, back down to Christ. DR. BETH HARRIS:
So everyone's gaze is really focused on Christ. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Yep, and we're in the middle of
that triangle as we watch them look at each other. DR. BETH HARRIS: And
Mary's ideally beautiful. And we have only the
faintest outline of a halo. That halo is disappearing as
we enter the High Renaissance, because the figures
exude a kind of divinity by their ideal beauty. We don't need that
symbol of a halo anymore. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
And for Raphael, its nature that
takes on that role. No longer are those stage
props of divinity necessary, as you said. But it's the landscape itself. It's God's world
that he's created that is an expression
of divinity. And it's beauty itself
that is the expression of divinity here, Mary's
beauty, Christ's beauty, and even John's beauty.