The Madonna Della Seggiola is an oil painting on wood 28" in diameter (ø 71 cm) by Raffaello Sanzio, dated 1514 and kept in the Palatine Gallery of Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
Raffaello Sanzio
Raphael was born in 1483 in Urbino and trained in his youth in the workshop of his father Giovanni Santi. Later, he collaborated with Perugino and Pinturicchio. He was open to many experiences and assimilated the lessons of Leonardo, Michelangelo and other artists in Florence of which he also acquired the compositional schemes.
Its Origin
A popular tradition tells that the inspiration for this work came to the artist while he was passing through Velletri, where he saw a local peasant woman cradling her child in her womb.
It was most likely Pope Leo X that commissioned it for his relatives in Florence, who first placed it in the Uffizi. From the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was moved to the Royal Palace (Palazzo Pitti) where it had various locations until its emigration to Paris in 1799 due to the Napoleonic spoliation. Fortunately, he returned to Palazzo Pitti in 1815 and since 1882, he has been in the Sala di Saturno.
Description
The work shows Mary sitting on a chair, hence the name. She turns, with the Child in a tender embrace, towards the spectator. St John, on the right, assists as he makes a gesture of prayer to Mary, emerging from the dark background. The Madonna raises one of her two legs, covered by a blue cloth, sliding almost forward, to create a circular rhythm that seems to suggest the rocking of cradling. She bends her head at her son, making the two heads touch, thus creating an atmosphere of intimate sweetness.
In the painting, warm tones prevail among which some parts of cold color stand out. The red color of Mary's sleeve and the orange color of Jesus' garment meet the right in the center of the composition. The same colors are then found in the decoration of the Virgin's shawl and on the armrest of the chair.
The painting represents a delicious refined compositional scheme, enhanced even more by the glitter of the golden fringes on the back of the chair.
Comparison in place
The Bottega Tifernate was included among the official suppliers of the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Pitti and the Accademia in 2001.
We had to study in depth all the works destined for the bookshop, in order to recreate "the essence of the original one."
The superintendent of Florence, Antonio Paolucci, asked to us to recreate every detail with the extreme accuracy. This possibility gave us the solution for a perfect reproduction: Pictografia technique, which uses ancient materials and methods, combined with the on-site study of a work of art, allows us to
recreate the pathos you feel in front of the original.
From 2001 until 2010, we have worked closely with the most important museums in the world, from the Louvre in Paris to the British Museum in London, up to the MET in New York So, when we have to reproduce a work of art, we always have the opportunity to study it on site.
The prizes are coming…
With this work on panel, created for the Pitti Palace in Florence, we won the award for the best product for museum bookshops, two consecutive years (2002-2003).
Read the whole story of the Bottega Tifernate