Unprecedented Vatican Museums loan of Raphael painting

September 06, 2011

For the first time, the Vatican Museums are lending Raphael’s Madonna of Foligno to another institution. With Pope Benedict’s approval, the Madonna of Foligno will be displayed in Dresden next to the artist’s Sistine Madonna on the occasion of Pope Benedict’s visit to his native land.

In the latter painting, “the curtain opens to present a strong woman, a true Roman, thus a light figure blown by the wind, with an attentive gaze turned to those who contemplate her,” writes Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, who will retire as president of the Governatorate of Vatican City State on October 1. In the Madonna of Foligno, “Mary is a woman full of sweetness in the sinuosity of her posture.”

 

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Further information:

• Raphael and the Mystery of the Mother of God (L’Osservatore Romano)