Art Essay Example: The Bridgewater Madona

'The Bridge water Madona 'is a painting and drawing of the Virgin Mary and her child designed by Raphael after the inspiration of Leonardo da Vinci work in Florence. The art achieved a graceful combination of an elegant twist that was posted in both the mother and the child (Robertson 56). The image further exchanged the glances of the tender bond between the child and the beautiful mother. Technically, when the analysis was revealed, the image was originally painted on a landscape background. Raphael also added a dark setting to subtle the modeling of the figures in shadow and light (Robertson 72). The essay will analyze the 'bridge water Madonna' and how the author reveals the purpose of the painting.

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There is also a probability that this was a devotional image created in a private chamber. Raphael created a religious masterpiece and art of high renaissance painting by Raphael the Urbino master be forming the Madona image showing that it was the last picture of her. The model was chosen among the greatest masterpieces by Pope Julius the second as an altarpiece and installed on the highest altar of the church of Benedictine abbey of San Sisto in Piacenza(Robertson 77). However, the intention of the decoration according to Julius the second including the image of Pope Sixtus the first were selected because of the patron saint of the Della family and Julius. Moreover, the picture was later donated by the San Sisto Monks of Saxony by King Agustus the third before it was taken to the capital Dresden (Robertson 85).

In 1885, the 'bridge water madonna' image was then installed in New Royal Museum city but returned to Germany after the second world war after it was removed from the Fine Arts Pushkin Museum in 1955 (Antonova 165). The painting was also regarded as one of the most significant religious painting that existed in the Italian Renaissance which is currently at Dresden in the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister. The 'bridge water of Madona' was an oil painting done on a panel, child and Madonna in the 17th century on an oval square-frame displaying a child that lies on his mother's knees while she looks at the baby in a graceful combined pose in an elegant twist known contrapposto (Antonova 175).

In London, 'The Bridgewater Madonna' image had a version in the Sutherland collection after it was bought at the Duke of Orleans by the Duke of Bridge water in 1508. In the original painting, the author used the landscape background to set the modeling of the figures just as seen in Christ's Child's nakedness and the care shown by the mother (Jeronimus 122). For instance, Madonna had a long Neck similar to that of the later Parmigianino's that was defined by the prominent spatial elongated figures and spatial compositions. The painting which is also known as the Child and Madona made the female character to have a long neck to show the curious length of the swan-like neck of Madonna.

The painting also has one of the most controversial works of Parmigianino's analyzed by many critics. For Instance, Madonna is seen seated on the high pedestal while wearing beautiful clothes while holding the baby on her thighs. On the left side of the picture, four angels are observed to surround Maddona in the sense as if they are admiring Christ. On the right-hand side, there are columns of marble that show the image of St. Jerome and how he was connected to the saint with the worship of the Virgin Mary (Jeronmus 132). The subject of this picture is from the medieval hymns similar to the Birgin's neck to an excellent ivory column or tower. However, the length of the Virgin's limbs are exaggerated and that of her son because of the background columns in the painting as a symbol of the religious values.

The commission

The painting was initially commissioned by Elena Baiardi, a noblewoman of the chapel family in Parma at the church of Sana Maria dei Servi. The picture was also the work of Parmigianino's work's that existed for six years which was never completed because of Parmigianino's death in 1540 (Robertson 92).

The Analysis of Madonna's long neck

Unlike the peaceful and calm image of Madonna, the artist's painting gives a sense of movement and abandonment by making the posture of the female to be relaxed, carefree, and perhaps just a little open. Parmigianino, however, admired the art and studies the poise and grace of Raphael's art and remolded the old master's work figure and converted them to unhealthy creatures like their marble skin, limbs, the ideal beauty and the blithe attitude (Antonova 182).

The art also consists of harmonious features that are designed and practiced in the rhetoric church. The top of the picture shows how Madonna holds the child represented as Christ while the lower left side contains the Saint Sixtus image that looks up to her to show how the faithful congregation their right hand. Moreover, the mediation between the earthly plane and the heavenly Madonna was demonstrated in the Saint Barbara image at the opposite (Antonova 189). The foot of the picture has two picturesque cherubs put on the resting particularly on the elbows of Madona that gazes between the three images above them. The Papal, on the other hand, rests on the former Pope Sixtus set at the bottom of the painting to act as a bridge between the pictorial and real space.

The three primary figures of Raphael's painting; the saints Barbara Madonna, the virgin and the Saint Sixtus-inhabit an imagery space is placed in front of heavy opened heavens to reveal the heavenly scene (Antonova 201). The image is also set in a usual triangular arrangement between the bed clouds showing how the church congregation looks upon the change. Besides Raphael's cover illusions the work exemplifies aspects of his unique skills like such of the finest artists of Renaissance.

The Angela and the Madonna

The artist does not just design images of a healthy human portion including Madona's finger, shoulder, and neck; he made sure that she is also elongated to make her look more graceful and elegant (Robertson 92). For instance, the artist made her hear to be decorated and curled to elaborate the decorations and curls. The artist also lengthened and stretched human body parts automatically and strangely. The leg of Madona is in the foreground of suggestive and glossy while holding up his scrolls that gaunt and emancipated. The open and Jarvis image of Madonna mixed with the crowd of Angels form different undresses the critics Parmigianino.

Conclusion

This detail makes the viewer's eyes to restlessly check the painting several times that makes it out of proportion. The depiction of the child and Madonna was a popular art form that existed during the Renaissance. The picture became standard for the virgins while having the saints to both sides that were painted into interviews, The painting, in other words, was to make the viewers seek piety in Madonna's tenderness and beauty.

Works Cited

Antonova, Irina. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow: Painting. Aurora, 1988.

Robertson, Bryan. The Bridgewater Madonna by Raphael. 1963.

Bernhard, and C. J. Jeronimus. Travels by His Highness Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach through North America in the Years 1825 and 1826. University Press of America, 2001.