Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Raphael
Italian; 16th-century
Vienna, Austria: Kunsthistorisches Museum
93%
The Madonna of the Meadow. 1505. Oil on canvas
That famous pyramid that's formed by the Virgin and the two holy kids is as still, secure, and perfectly achieved as anything in art's history... yet there's not a single solid form within it (except maybe the baby baptist's staff) that can be said to be providing that solidity. The boys are offset from Mary such that, from the tip of John's stick up to her visage, a slight recession in space is sustained; the hems of Mary's robe suggest, from the other side of the structure, a cascade of cylinders up her leg toward her head where her glance meets the crucifix. Mary twists, Christ countertwists, John countercountertwists. Ceaseless motion, yet serene. In its particulars Raphael's painting is all delicacy and blending hues but in general it's as certain — singular, sufficient — as whatever comes into your head when you think "triangle," and that is its brilliance: it's at once an ideal and the actuality of life being lived. (TFS, 2025)