Room 61

The small scale of Raphael’s The Madonna of the Pinks invites a close, quiet look. Mary and the infant Christ share an intimate exchange. The Ansidei Madonna, made for an altar, uses a much more formal arrangement and a different relationship to the viewer. Raphael trained in central Italy before moving to Florence, where Leonardo and Michelangelo offered powerful examples of how to paint the body. His work grew in ambition as he developed his handling of figures, colour and landscape. Compare the scale of the paintings here and the space allowed around their figures. Those choices helped each picture serve a particular home, chapel or patron.