Raphael: The Woman with the Veil at Milwaukee Art MuseumBy STAN PARCHIN
January 28, 2010
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| Raphael (Raphael Sanzio) (Italian, 1483-1520). La Donna Velata or La Velata (The Woman with the Veil) (ca. 1516). Oil on canvas. 85 x 64 cm (33.5 x 25.2 in.). Istituti museale della Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino. |
A famous Italian Renaissance portrait continues to tour the United States in the dossier exhibition
Raphael: The Woman with the Veil at the
Milwaukee Art Museum from March 27 to June 6, 2010. The one-work presentation features
The Woman with the Veil (La Donna Velata) (ca. 1516) by Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), on loan from the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy.
As a response to
Mona Lisa (ca. 1503-06) by
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Raphael produced
The Woman with the Veil, his own vision of ideal beauty and a painting also shrouded in intrigue throughout the centuries. The sumptuously dressed sitter wears a white veil, indicating that she is married. The portrait may have been commissioned by the bride's spouse. Some art historians feel that the subject is Margherita Luti, Raphael's lover and muse (and possibly his mistress) who inherited a major part of the artist's estate when he died. She appears in many of Raphael's compositions.
The woman in the portrait looks directly at the viewer. She clutches her left breast, suggesting a level of intimacy unusual for a painter and his sitter during the Renaissance. Her elegant and brocaded silk clothing and antique-style jewelry indicate her noble social status. Whatever her exact relationship was to Raphael, most scholars now agree that the painting reflects the artist's thoughts about female beauty and sensual desire.
"Raphael: The Woman with the Veil" previously traveled to the Portland Art Museum, Oregon (October 23, 2009-January 3, 2010) and the Nevada Museum of Art (January 9-March 21, 2010). SourceChapman, Hugo, Tom Henry and Carol Plattozza, et al.
Raphael: From Urbino to Rome (exh. cat.). London: National Gallery Company, 2004, 278-279.