"The Madonna Di Foligno."

RAPHAEL, 1483-1520. THE VATICAN.

Of family votive Madonnas, this work is Raphael's masterpiece. It is one of three pictures occupying a room in the Vatican Gallery, the other two being "The Transfiguration," by Raphael, long accounted the first picture of the world, and "The Last Communion of St. Jerome," by Domenichino, being accounted second in rank. The two hang on opposite walls, the Madonna at the end of the room. This picture was ordered by Sigismund Conti (private secretary of Pope Julius II.), as a votive offering for the preservation of his life when endangered by a thunderbolt. In 1511 it was dedicated and placed over the high altar in the Church of Ara Coeli, at Rome, which belongs to the Franciscans. The donor died in 1512, and in 1565 his grandniece obtained permission to have the picture removed to her convent in Foligno. It was taken from there to Paris in 1797, but was restored to Italy in 1815, and has been in the Vatican ever since.

In the upper part of the picture, seated upon the clouds, and surrounded by a nimbus of angelic heads, we see the Madonna supporting the infant Jesus partly with her drapery. Below the Madonna, in the background, is the city of Foligno (between Rome and Florence), the native city of the donor,--hence the name of the picture. A meteor is descending upon Foligno, but the city is spanned by the rainbow of promise. At the right of the picture in the foreground, Sigismund Conti is kneeling with clasped hands, gazing upward with intense gratitude and devotion; it is a life portrait. Behind him stands St. Jerome, with his hand placed upon the head of Sigismund, evidently imploring protection for him from the Virgin Mother. Jerome appears as the patron saint of all ecclesiastics. Opposite are the figures of St. John the Baptist, pointing upward to the Redeemer, and St. Francis, pointing down and imploring a blessing upon the Church of Ara Coeli, St. Francis being the patron saint of the Franciscan order. In the center, dividing these groups, stands a lovely angel boy, holding in his hand a votive tablet, on which are inscribed the names of the painter and the donor, and the date, 1512. The picture is all aglow with life and beauty. We know not whether to admire most the contrasting figures, the coloring, the grouping or the expression. The Madonna throned on a rainbow was clearly suggested by one of the sublimest scenes in the Apocalypse, and is worthy of its great original.