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.