The Alba Madonna
The Alba Madonna is significantly one of the most important paintings in America. Raphael the painter exemplifies the renaissance period by combining modern and traditional elements of art with his unique imagination. For instance, he opted to go for the popular Florentine format while setting his painting apart from other Madonna paintings at the time. Some of the modern elements of the painting include a notable change in the dress and the landscape. Usually, the virgins in the painting appeared to wear contemporary dress, but he opted to paint his virgin in an outfit whose origin was ancient Rome.
The painting is composed of three images, one virgin and two infant children John and Jesus. John seeks to look towards Mary’s direction questioning his importance to the mother Mary. He seems to wonder if Mary loves him as much as he loves Jesus. Mary appears to be in a deep state of meditation because she appears transfixed on something else. Some of the themes explored in the painting include love, where John wonders if Mary loves him, meditation and innocence from both children portrayed by their nakedness (Baskett, 2007). The backdrop of the painting is the greenery and the sky, which could portray the graveness of the painting and it also, explores the beauty of the country at the time. Raphael also incorporates flowers that appear in front of the images.
Raphael painted The Virgin Mary in a manner to suggest a pose in resemblance to a sculpture. John is included with Mary and Jesus a peculiar practice that was familiar for Roman paintings. This set him apart as he was simply drawing from his imagination but he made it possible to imagine that he was drawing a live being (Baskett, 2007). The tools involved in his drawings included metal point, which many artists used to make the drawing at that time.
The metal point was handy considering the fact that it would create lines in the canvas through a chemical reaction. The lines were easy to trace which is partly what made his paintings precise and devoid of imperfections. He used a sharpened end of a chalk to complete the drawings in the place of a pencil. He also used oil on wood and board to finish his works a signature that he had adopted and that made all his works masterpieces.
The meaning of the painting is clear as it combines the fantasy of Jesus, Mary and John with the realism of the natural background. Evidently, there is a difference between the innocence of the two children, young and fragile in the world and the experiences presented by the youthfulness of Mary. She appears to look away in a different direction as though she is not paying attention to the two children. Some critics have suggested that she was reading the Holy Bible and that could partly be the reason as to why she appears distracted.
Some critics also argue that all the three seem transfixed on something that could be the cross held by the baby Jesus. These critics say that the cross holds the whole meaning of the painting. Christ held the cross because he knew that he would die eventually for the sins of His people. The cross stands for acceptance to his fate. John and Mary were to play a major role in his growth and consequent suffering and the fact that they look towards the cross signifies their acceptance on the matter.
References
Baskett, J. (2007). Paul Mellon’s legacy: A passion for British art. New Haven, Conn: Yale
University Press.
