11.25 Inches High x 11.25 Inches Wide x 2.25 Inches Deep
The relief is after the Renaissance painting of the Madonna and Child created by Raphael around 1514. He painted it during his Roman period. The artwork is also known as Madonna della Sedia, “seggiola” and “sedia” being Italian for chair. Its title comes from the fact that the Madonna is sitting on a chair, visible only from the post in the foreground. Mary holds the baby Jesus while a young St. John admires them in the background. The heavenly figures fill the tondo (a circular artwork), and this close proximity gives viewers the sense that they are sharing the same space with them. It’s also possible that the magnification towards the center of the work was meant to resemble that of a convex mirror, which was associated with the Immaculate Conception.
Raphael’s piece has been copied over the centuries into such art as paintings and engravings, and this relief by an unknown artist. Queen Victoria of England gave her husband Prince Albert, a fan of Raphael, one such copy – a watercolor by Robert Thorburn. Raphael’s original was acquired by the Medici family, but has been in the Pitti Palace in Florence since the 18th century. For a time in the early 1800s, the artwork was housed in Paris after being seized by Napoleon’s troops.
Artist: Unknown, after Raphael
Museum: Unknown
Time Period: Unknown
Sources:
“Food for the Soul: Madonna della Seggiola by Raphael Sanzio.” Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, Jan. 2013, http:///news_events/seggiola.htm.
“Johann Michael Wittmer (1802-80) – Raphael’s First Sketch of the Madonna della Sedia.” Royal Collection Trust, https://.uk/collection/403635/raphaels-first-sketch-of-the-madonna-della-sedia.
“Madonna della sedia (after Raphael).” National Trust Collections, http://.uk/object/732245.
“Madonna of the Chair (Madonna della Seggiola) E564.” Thorvaldsens Museum, https://www.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/en/collections/work/E564.