Painting "Lady with a Unicorn" by Raphael Santi: description, history

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The painting "The Lady with the Unicorn" by Raphael Santi shows one of the most captivating and mysterious masterpieces of genius. She was first mentioned in 1652 in the Galleria Borghese collection in Rome.

Florentine period of young Raphael

After studying with Perugino and having developed his own style, young Raphael goes to Florence, where, presumably in 1504, he appears in the workshop of the great Leonardo and sees a portrait of Mona Lisa. This work makes a great impression on the young painter. He carefully studies the techniques of an experienced master, makes sketches from Leonardo's paintings, and with even greater perseverance begins to work on his technique. In Florence in 1506-1507. The painting "Lady with a Unicorn" was created. Rafael Santi could not even imagine that in a few centuries it would cause discussions and disputes, how many changes would happen to it before it was revealed to everyone in its original version. The researchers suggest that the portrait was created from nature. Two years later, having already finished the painting "The Lady with the Unicorn", Raphael will move to Rome forever.

Refined style of a young painter

Only 36 years were allotted to the "divine Sanzio", as his contemporaries called him, to transform from a gifted child into a true child of the Renaissance, who had the gift of an artist, a master of monumental paintings, and an architect. His style captivates with clarity, balance and purity.

Painting "Lady with a Unicorn" by Raphael: description

On the canvas we see a portrait of an unknown beauty. The composition was clearly influenced by Leonardo.

A young lady with a unicorn sits on a loggia, which is framed on both sides, like the work of his great predecessor, two columns. Her hands, as well as the hands of the Gioconda, are folded in a half ring. She also shifts her gaze slightly to the side. But she does not tell us anything, as the Mona Lisa does. If Leonardo portrayed the young mother of the family, then Rafael in the painting “Lady with a Unicorn” created a captivating, pure and innocent image of a young girl on whose lap a small unicorn sits.

According to the beliefs of that time, it can only be tamed by a girl who has retained her chastity.

We continue the description of the painting by Rafael Santi "Lady with a Unicorn". A neatly tucked-in head with golden hair is adorned with a small tiara, which may be tying the hair at the back. The maiden is depicted against the background of a clear clear sky, where the low blue hills of Tuscany can be seen in the distance, in which there is no mystery. A dress with a low neckline and puffy detachable sleeves, a gold chain decoration with a ruby and a drop-shaped pearl show that this is a we althy elegant noble lady. There is only one oddity that everyone notices: there is not a single ring on the fingers of the unknown.

This female image is completely harmonious and whole. It is written in transitions of pure and light colors.

Elegance and refinement, as well as the mystery of the soul of this young stranger are the two main secrets that the portrait hides. This is one of the beauty ideals of a woman in the early 16th century.

Who was considered the author?

The story of the portrait is unique. Its authorship was attributed to Perugino, Ghirlandaio and many other painters, and Vasari did not give a description of this work. D. Cantalamesso first began research in 1916. He was the first to doubt the authorship of the painting "Lady with a Unicorn". Very carefully approached its attribution in the thirties and forties of the last century. It was examined by x-rays. Restoration began in 1935. Before that, in the picture, everyone saw St. Catherine of Alexandria, on whose shoulders a cloak was thrown. Even her hands were held differently.

The drawing from the Louvre helped a lot, where we see the initial stage of creating a portrait.

Metamorphoses of Saint Catherine

X-ray revealed several layers of later additions, as well as the fact that initially a small dog (a symbol of fidelity of the spouses) was sitting on the hands of the model, which the author himself replaced with a unicorn. This was learned in 1959, when the work was once again examined and found out that in the course of later improvements, the painter himself changed the meaning of the picture from devotion to purity. The painting was badly damaged. The restorers, carefully removing layer by layer, returned the masterpiece to its original form.

Now it is assumed that the picture went through several stages of work:

• The model holding the dog was less young, and Rafael painted only the lake landscape, the sky and the figure in its background.
• The position of the arms, sleeves, doggie, columns was completed by another artist. He may have been close to Leonardo's school.
• After several decades, the dog became a unicorn, which required rewriting of the hands.
• A century later, an unknown artist turned this image into St. Catherine.

It has not yet been possible to find out who served as the model. This is the enigma of the portrait.

Single painting exhibition

Pearl of the Renaissance "Lady with a Unicorn" (painting by Raphael) Pushkin Museum put on display in 2011. The painting was brought to Russia to commemorate the year of Italian culture and its language in our country. The work rarely leaves its homeland.

R. Vaudret, head of museums in Rome, said that the preparation of the painting for a trip to the Russian Federation took three months. Initially, a completely sealed container was created. This is where it should be kept.the microclimate required for the canvas. After that, an outer wooden box was made, in which a container was placed that cannot move a single millimeter. The container was brought to Rome airport in a special car and then placed on a government aircraft for delivery to Moscow.

The Pushkin Museum secured the masterpiece by placing it under bulletproof glass.

Experience of mono-exhibitions in the Pushkin Museum is already available, since the Gioconda was brought to it in the 70s. The viewer was given forty-five minutes to view the masterpiece. Lines, of course, are inevitable, but art lovers waited for a meeting with the painting by Rafael Santi.