the Child in her arms, standing on clouds, within a glory of cherubim, between two green curtains which are looped back at the sides; at the left, St. Sixtus (Pope Sixtus II.), in a white tunic and gold-coloured pallium turned back with purple, kneels in supplication; on the right, St. Barbara, kneeling and looking downwards; behind her is her attribute, the tower; below, a balustrade, upon which two angels lean, both looking upwards; at left, on the balustrade, is the tiara of St. Sixtus. A rare example of a picture of Raphael's later time, painted entirely by his own hand. No study known to exist. Every form of eulogy has been exhausted on this incomparable masterpiece. The Madonna's beauty is a human beauty, but the Child's is something more—the divine nature shines through the mortal frame and illumines it. Here Raphael's work is above all other work. Painted in Rome in 1518 for the Church of the Monastery of S. Sisto, Piacenza, where Vasari saw it; in 1754 the monks sold it for 40,000 Roman crowns to Augustus III., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who presented to the monastery an old copy by Paris Nogari, which still hangs in the place of the original. Restored by Palmaroli in 1826. Engraved by Müller; Tosetti (1821); W. Say (1826); J. Pavon; Dessart; Thouvenin; F. W. Meyer; Nordheim; Schultz; Boucher-Desnoyers (1841); Steinla (1858); Keller. Lithographed by Bodmer; Hanfstängl; Noël; A. Maurin; L. Maurin (1842); L. Zoellner; A. Lecompte.—Vasari, ed. Mil., iv. 365; Rumohr, iii. 131; Passavant, ii. 278; Gruyer, Vierges de Raphael, iii. 595; Klas. der Malerei; Gal. roy. de Dresde, iii. Pl. 1; Kugler (Eastlake), ii. 459; Springer (Dohme, 2ii.), 291; Müntz, 518; Ch. Blanc, École ombrienne; Perkins, 188; Hübner, Dresden Gal., i.1; Lübke, Raphael, 78, 112; Réveil, x. 739.
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Madonna di San Sisto, Raphael, Dresden Gallery.
MADONNA OF SAN ZENO, Andrea
Mantegna, S. Zeno, Verona; large altarpiece
in six parts, figures life-size. The Virgin
and Child, enthroned in a classic portico;
to the left, SS. Peter, Paul, John Evangelist,
and Augustine; to the right, SS. John
Baptist, Lawrence, and Benedict; about
steps of throne, angels dancing, singing,
and playing instruments; below, in predella,
Christ on Mount, Crucifixion, and
Ascension. Painted between 1457 and 1459
at the expense of the prothonotary Gregorio
Conaro. Taken to Paris in 1797 and returned
in 1815, excepting the predella, one
panel of which (Crucifixion) is in the Louvre,
the two others in Museum of Tours.
Predella in S. Zeno is a copy.—C. & C., N.
Italy, i. 379; Burckhardt, 578; Gaz. des B.
Arts, May 1, 1866; Vasari, ed. Mil., iii. 394.
