The
Madonna of Foligno is a painting
by the Italian High Renaissance painter
Raphael. The painting was executed for
Sigismondo de' Conti, secretary of Pope
Julius II, in 1511-1512. It was to be
placed in the church of Santa Maria in
Aracoeli in Rome, where Sigismondo was
buried. In 1512 it was moved to the
monastery of St. Anne in Foligno, whence
the name. Raphael's pictorial research
had been enriched by his solutions
regarding the use of light in the
Expulsion of Heliodorus and the
Liberation of St. Peter. These
pictorial devices reappear in the
Madonna of Foligno. The Madonna and
Child, borne by a cloud of angels and
framed by an orange disk, dominate the
group of saints below them, among whom
is the donor. This group includes - from
left to right - St. John the Baptist,
St. Francis, Sigismondo de' Conti and
St. Jerome. A small angel at the centre
of the composition holds a small plaque
which was originally intended to carry
the dedicatory inscription. The painting
was commissioned to commemorate a
miracle in which the donor's house in
Foligno was struck by lightning or -
according to another version - was
struck by a projectile during the siege
of Foligno, although it was not damaged.
The stormy atmosphere of the landscape
background and the flash of lightning
(or explosion) which strikes the Chigi
Palace (visible at left) illustrate the
legend. The strong characterization of
the figures, the volumetric fullness of
the putti and the refined chiaroscuro
distinguish the panel (which was taken
as loot by Napoleon's army in 1799 and
returned in 1815) as a work of the
mature artist.
