Year early 1500s Artists Giovanni Santi, Raphael | Type oil in wood panel | |
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Dimensions 107 cm × 77 cm (42 in × 30 in) Location Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. Raphael artwork Madonna and Child, Colonna Altarpiece, The Bridgewater Madonna | ||
The Virgin and Child (The Northbrook Madonna) was painted in the early 16th century by the Master of the Northbrook Madonna, active 1500-1525. It is in the permanent collection of the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
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Description
The Madonna is wearing a red blouse and a dark blue skirt. She and the infant are both fair skinned with light red-orange hair. Behind them is a green landscape receding to blue mountains under a blue sky. A brown structure is on the right side of the landscape.
History
The painting takes its name from having been in the Northbrook Collection in England. The painting was acquired by the Worcester Art Museum in 1940. At the time it was attributed to Raphael, but scholars have since discarded the idea. Currently there is no clear consensus on its authorship. The painting "may have been the result of a collaboration, a practice that Raphael was known for throughout his career."
In 2015 the painting was exhibited alongside the Small Cowper Madonna by Raphael, on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The exhibition's intent was to attempt to identify the Master of the Northbrook Madonna, as well as to "explore Raphael's masterful interpretation and the spread of his early style among followers in Central Italy."