La Madonna de Bogota (Raphael)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Rafael_-_La_Madona_de_Bogota.jpg/220px-Rafael_-_La_Madona_de_Bogota.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Madonna_of_Bogota_by_Raphael_Sanzio_Urbino.jpg/220px-Madonna_of_Bogota_by_Raphael_Sanzio_Urbino.jpg)
The Madonna of Bogota is a painting of the Madonna and Child, rediscovered in Bogotá, Colombia in 1938, that has been attributed to Raphael.[1] It was brought to present day Colombia (Nuevo Reino de Granada) by the Spanish crusader and conquistador Gonzalo Suárez Rendón, who was awarded the painting by Emperor Charles V as a war trophy after the Battle of Pavia. [2]
Rediscovery
In 1938 Mrs. Maria Mendoza, a friend of Santiago Martinez Delgado, invited him and his wife Leonor Concha de Martinez, to her home in Bogotá. Mrs. Mendoza had with her a painting she thought to be by Gregorio Vazquez Arce y Ceballos, a well-known Colombian artist about whom Martinez Delgado had written a book. Based on the fact that Martinez was considered an expert in art history and Arce y Ceballos, she asked him to attribute the piece. As soon as Martinez laid eyes on the painting he immediately knew that it was either by Raphael or by someone in his school.
The piece was in very poor condition, split in two and kept together by a piece of wire. Martinez took the painting for further study and research, and after taking x-rays and other steps he was convinced that it was, in fact, an original Raphael. When the rumor about the painting reached the press, it quickly started a heated debate; some dismissed it, including the El Tiempo daily that argued that it was a copy of a Raphael piece currently at the Museo del Prado.
Soon Martinez called for a symposium at the municipal theater to discuss the matter. The event was attended by well-known Colombian experts like Enrique Uribe White, Antonio Bergmann, Domingo Otero and Ines Acevedo Biester. Martinez explained the provenance and the scientific work done on the work making an irrefutable point. He also revealed that the painting had been brought to Colombia by Caballero Góngora; furthermore, Enrique Restrepo proved that although it was similar to the one in El Prado it was different in many aspects. The most important of these aspects is that the painting in Madrid's El Escorial Chapel had been there for a long time making it impossible to copy during the 16th century.
Finally in 1939 Martinez brought the painting to New York's Metropolitan Museum and to Columbia University where it was studied by Daniel Catton, Rich A. Sweet, Ruber H. Clark, Leo A. Marzolo, Adolfo Venturi, and Wilhelm Valentiner, who was in New York for the 1939 New York World's Fair. In June 1939 the painting was confirmed as an original Raphael and entered named the Madonna of Bogota. The piece was then taken to the Chicago Art Institute to be restored.
Joaquin Piñeros Corpas confirmed it in Colombia on an article in El Tiempo: “Confirmado: Madonna De Bogota Por Rafael Sanzio Urbino.” Many US papers acclaimed Martinez Delgado for his discovery.
Authentication
In 1939, Ruth VanSickle Ford, the then president of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, issued the painting with a certificate of authenticity.[3] The following year, in 1940, the Brooklyn Museum issued the painting with a certificate of authenticity attributing the work to Raphael.
Present
The painting is currently kept in an unidentified New York City bank vault; it is expected to be turned to the ownership of the San Agustín Church in Bogotá, Colombia, as stipulated in Martinez' last will and testament.
See also
References
External links
Media related to La Madonna de Bogota at Wikimedia Commons
- v
- t
- e
- Baronci Altarpiece (1500–1501)
- Saint Sebastian (1501–1502)
- Resurrection of Christ (1499–1502)
- Mond Crucifixion (1502–1503)
- Madonna and Child with the Book (c. 1503)
- Solly Madonna (c. 1500–1504)
- Oddi Altar (1502–1504)
- Conestabile Madonna (c. 1502–1504)
- Portrait of a Man (c. 1503–1504)
- Vision of a Knight (1503–1504)
- The Marriage of the Virgin (1504)
- Diotallevi Madonna (c. 1504)
- Portrait of Perugino 1 (c. 1504)
- Colonna Altarpiece (c. 1503–1505)
- Saint George (c. 1503–1505)
- Three Graces (c. 1503–1505)
- Saint Michael (c. 1504–1505)
- Christ Blessing (c. 1502–1504)
- Portrait of Pietro Bembo (c. 1504)
- Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga 2 (c. 1504–1505)
- Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltro 2 (c. 1504–1505)
- Small Cowper Madonna (c. 1504–1505)
- Terranuova Madonna (c. 1504–1505)
- Madonna del Granduca (c. 1505)
- Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1505)
- Young Man with an Apple (c. 1505)
- Self-portrait (1504–1506)
- La donna gravida (1505–1506)
- Madonna del Cardellino (c. 1505–1506)
- Young Woman with Unicorn (c. 1505–1506)
- Madonna del Prato (1506)
- Madonna with Beardless Saint Joseph (c. 1506)
- Portrait of Agnolo Doni (c. 1506)
- Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (c. 1506)
- Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. 1506)
- Ansidei Madonna (1505–1507)
- Madonna of the Pinks (c. 1506–1507)
- Bridgewater Madonna (c. 1507–1508)
- The Deposition (1507)
- Madonna of the Baldacchino (c. 1506–1508)
- La belle jardinière (1507–1508) (completed by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio)
- Canigiani Holy Family (c. 1507–1508)
- Colonna Madonna (c. 1507–1508)
- Portrait of a Young Woman (La Muta) (c. 1507–1508)
- Esterhazy Madonna (c. 1508)
- Niccolini-Cowper Madonna (1508)
- Tempi Madonna (1508)
- Saint Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1507–1509)
- Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami (c. 1509)
- Garvagh Madonna (c. 1509–1510)
- Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (c. 1509–1511)
- Portrait of a Cardinal (c. 1510–1511)
- Alba Madonna (c. 1511)
- Madonna of Loreto (c. 1511)
- The Prophet Isaiah (1511–1512)
- Madonna of Foligno (c. 1511–1512)
- Portrait of Pope Julius II (1511, 1512)
- Galatea (c. 1512)
- Madonna with the Fish (c. 1512–1514)
- Madonna della Seggiola (c. 1513–1514)
- Madonna of the Candelabra (c. 1513–1514)
- Sistine Madonna (c. 1513–1514)
- Madonna dell'Impannata (c. 1513–1514)
- Madonna della Tenda (c. 1513–1514)
- Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1513–1514)
- Sibyls (1514)
- Portrait of Bindo Altoviti (c. 1512–1515)
- Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–1515)
- Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary (c. 1514–1516)
- Creation of the World (1516)
- Portrait of Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano (1516)
- Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena (c. 1516)
- La velata (c. 1516)
- Visitation (c. 1517)
- The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia (c. 1514–1517)
- Madonna with the Blue Diadem (c. 1510–1518)
- Holy Family of Francis I (1518)
- Saint Michael Vanquishing Satan (1518)
- Ezekiel's Vision (c. 1518)
- Portrait of Doña Isabel de Requesens y Enríquez de Cardona-Anglesola (with Giulio Romano) (c. 1518)
- Saint Margaret and the Dragon (c. 1518)
- La Fornarina (1518–1519)
- Small Holy Family (c. 1518–1519) (with Giulio Romano)
- Portrait of a Young Woman (c. 1518–1519) (with Giulio Romano)
- Transfiguration (1516–1520)
- Madonna de Bogota (c. 1517–1520)
- Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals (c. 1518–1520)
- Madonna of the Rose (1518–1520)
- Self-Portrait with a Friend (1518–1520)
- The Parnassus (1509–1511)
- The School of Athens (1509–1511)
- Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (1510–1511)
- Cardinal and Theological Virtues (1511)
- The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple (1511–1512)
- The Mass at Bolsena (1512–1514)
- The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila (1513–1514)
- Deliverance of Saint Peter (1514)
- The Fire in the Borgo (c. 1514–1517) (executed by Giulio Romano)
- Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1514–1516)
- Christ's Charge to Peter (1514–1516)
- Healing of the Lame Man (1514–1516)
- Death of Ananias (1514–1516)
- Conversion of the Proconsul (1514–1516)
- Sacrifice at Lystra (1514–1516)
- Saint Paul Preaching in Athens (1514–1516)
- Lucretia (1500s)
- Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1508)
- Jonah (1520) (executed by Lorenzetto)
- Elijah (c. 1520–1524) (executed by Lorenzetto and Raffaello da Montelupo)
- Chigi Chapel (1507–1520) (continued by other architects)
- Palazzo Jacopo da Brescia (1515–1519)
- Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila (c. 1520)
- Sant'Eligio degli Orefici (1509–1575) (completed by Baldassare Peruzzi and Bastiano da Sangallo)
- Villa Madama (1518–1525) (completed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and other disciples)
- Villa Farnesina (decoration)
- Giovanni Santi (father)
- Imperia Cognati (mistress and model)
- Margarita Luti (mistress and model)
- Giulio Romano (disciple and collaborator)
- Raphael and La Fornarina (1813 painting)
- Raphael (1894 opera)
- La Fornarina (1944 film)
- Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
- SS Raffaello
- Raphael (crater)
- Vatican loggias
- 1 Also attributed to Lorenzo di Credi
- 2 Attributed