A young Raphael painted this masterpiece )also call Madonna of the Goldfinch) as a wedding gift to his friend, Lorenzo
Nasi. In his work, he arranged three figures - the Virgin Mary, and two young boys, Christ and John the Baptist. There
is a specific symmetry to the piece, a bilateral composition with a vertical focus in the center, a horizontal axis and
equivalent forms to the left and right to complete the balance. The Madonna is clothed in blue and red: blue
signifying the church while the red used to signify the passion of Christ. John’s hand holds a goldfinch, a symbol
representing the crucifixion of Christ as per the legend that the goldfinch flew over Christ’s head during crucifixion
and was taking a thorn from the crown of Christ when blood splashed upon it.
I chose not to deviate too much from the original balanced composition yet played with skewing the horizontal axis.
I also repositioned the goldfinch (adding a second) and added some menace to the birds. In addition, I eliminated
John entirely, focusing on the Madonna and the young Christ. I’ve also allowed interpretation as to the ethnicity of
the Madonna and child.
An intersting historical footnote: in 1548, an earthquake destroyed Nasi’s home and the painting ended up breaking
into 17 pieces. It was instantly restored yet the seams were quite visible until a major restoration took place from
2002-2008 in which years of grime were removed to restore the vibrant colors and fixing the damage caused by the
earthquake.
