The Tempi Madonna

In Florence, Raphael made the largest Madonna paintings. If there was one painting with the slightest religious sentiment, it should be The Tempi Madonna. Raphael began working on it when he left Florence and went to Rome. In 1508, Raphael was recommended by his fellow Bramante, and invited by Julie II to Rome to make murals for the Vatican palace. At that time, his passion for the creation of Madonna was still unabated. After coming to Rome, he was commissioned again to work out this Madonna. The Tempi Madonna is measuring 25×17cm, and now collected in Munich Museum of Antiquities.

The Tempi Madonna
Detail Of The Tempi Madonna

Here the artist broke the traditional format which existed in his previous Madonna paintings and changed the form and composition to make Madonna hug her children in order to exquisitely show the parent-child love in the world. Madonna put her face close

to the baby’s face, full of love. When you appreciate this painting, you will produce a kind of impulsive feeling and a kind of human nature of the calf private overflowing in the painting. This is Raphael’s Madonna further secular result, which is a big change different from the past. We feel that the artist is trying to explore his own personality, making the Madonna and people’s feelings come closer. The colors of The Tempi Madonna use block surface structure where Madonna sits in the front side of the right. The intimate feelings on Madonna’s face are showed very distinctly. In addition to other paintings of Raphael, this painting may be a traitor to his other Madonna works.