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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 4
Lesson 5: Raphael- Raphael, an introduction
- Raphael and his drawings
- Raphael, Marriage of the Virgin, 1504
- Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch
- Raphael, La belle jardinière
- Raphael, School of Athens
- Raphael, School of Athens
- Raphael, Alba Madonna
- Raphael, Portrait of Pope Julius II
- Raphael, Galatea
- Raphael, Pope Leo X
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Raphael, La belle jardinière
Raphael, La belle jardinière (also, Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist), 1507, oil on panel, 48 × 31½ in (122 × 80 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris) Speakers: Drs. Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Who was the painting made for? I just wonder because the title is french, and i wonder if that is just because it is now in the louvre or if it was comissioned by a french person.(4 votes)
- The painting was done during the Florentine period of Raffaello, and it was commissioned by a Tuscan noblemen. It is in the Louvre, and renamed in French, because king Francis I aquired it in later years.(6 votes)
- What is the city painted behind them?(6 votes)
- why is christ always naked and everybody else is clothed(2 votes)
- because Christ is the new Adam. Adam was naked before he sinned, and there was no shame to his nakedness.
Christ is eternally innocent.(11 votes)
- What is the picture at? 0:26
who is it by?(3 votes)- "The Virgin and Child with an Angel" by "Imitator of Fra Filippo Lippi".(2 votes)
- Madonna of the Goldfinch and La belle Jardinière are way too similar. In both cases Christ is standing on Mary's foot, Mary is holding a book, and Mary is sitting on a rock with nature all around. Is there any reason for that, especially when the two paintings are only a few years apart?(2 votes)
- I'm unsure who commissioned either of the two paintings, but it's very possible that the paintings ended up in towns many miles apart, and they wouldn't both have been seen by the same people. Art wasn't as available to most people as it is today. There were no photographs, television or internet to show the same painting to a wide circle. They are both lovely paintings, enough so that repeating them would bring the beauty to a wider audience.(3 votes)
- Why did people paint halos behind their heads in the first place?(2 votes)
- A halo is a sign of spirituality. It represents a holy person. It can mean the grace of God for that person too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(religious_iconography)(2 votes)
- Read La Belle Jardinière - A Raphael case study http://www.3pipe.net/2011/10/la-belle-jardiniere-raphael-case-study.html by Hasan Niyazi for great information about the symbolism and background of this painting. Which painting do you prefer, Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch, http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history/art-history-1500-1600-end-of-the-renaissance-and-the-reformation/v/raphael--madonna-of-the-goldfinch--1505-6, or this one?(2 votes)
- I like the Goldfinch one better. Mary's face looks a bit childish in this one.(2 votes)
- Compared to the other painting Madonna of the Gold Finch by Raphael, many things are reversed. But one thing out of those subtle differences is that the sleeve that falls down on Mary's drapery. Mary's drapery falls down on the side of Christ for the Madonna of the Gold Finch painting. This makes sense because Christ is leaning onto that side of the drapery. But for this painting, the drapery falls on the side of John the Baptist although Jesus is leaning on the other side in which the drapery doesn't fall and also John isn't actually leaning on the clothing. I know this could simply be to distinguish the paintings from each other or it could be that was the just the style of the drapery and the fact that it falls is not due to either of the children for either of the paintings. Could someone shed some light on this matter?(2 votes)
- Why are almost all of these videos have nude(0 votes)
- It wasn't considered inappropriate during the Renaissance, and the study of human anatomy was enormously important for Renaissance artists. Also because we're supposed to be mature enough not to question why they're naked..(5 votes)
- What is the story behind this(1 vote)
- that episode didn't really happened but this scene represents the future passion of Christ .
The gold finch is the symbol of his passion because according to a legend , its red stain is the blood of Christ.
John the Baptist is the last prophet so he already knew the future of Christ.
this is my interpretation : the virgin Mary is saying to John the Baptist " Talk to my son about is future", John shows the symbol of the passion to Christ who is thinking "I know".(2 votes)
Video transcript
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.