Meditating with Raphael (1483-1520)

The sketch of a work brings us closer to the long preparation work that an artist carries out over the days. Take, for example, this drawing made in red chalk, with a pencil loaded with iron oxide, by Raphaël. This study is also the summary of the patient path of a man’s life: first formed in his father’s workshop, directed by his master Perugino (c. 1446-1523), then matured by his travels to Florence . For this Madonna, commissioned by Paolo Giovio, doctor and ecclesiastic advisor to the Pope, the ideas took shape in the mind of the young Italian artist. Especially since other works are not lacking: at the top, on the left, it is the double sketch of another Madonna which appears like this. To its right, a building is represented with its plan of the rooms. Lower still, a first draft of the Child Jesus, made with a lead point, prepares the central drawing. The latter can finally spring forth.

Standing on one foot, the sketch of the Child Jesus is the most elaborate. The body of the Virgin is also well in place, crouching on one bent leg, the upper part of her bust stretched towards her right to watch the young Jean Baptiste, barely sketched, playing with his son. A large circle launched in a few quick strokes evokes the final version which was not produced until around 1511 in the form of a tondo, a circular format painting. On the back of the sheet, a much more advanced sketch of this future Madonna of Alba will then emerge. Everything is ready, finally, for the ultimate gesture that will follow: the miraculous incarnation of an artist’s thought in the brilliance of the colors and the thickness of the oily paste that the brush will spread.