Madonna of Foligno

The painting was executed for Sigismondo de' Conti, chamberlain to Pope Julius II, in 1511. It was placed on a high altar of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli on Capitoline Hill (Italian: Campidoglio) in Rome,[1][2] where Sigismondo was buried in 1512.

It was moved by Anna Conti, a descendant of Sigismondi Conti, to the monastery of St. Anne in Foligno in 1565 and remained there for more than two centuries, hence the name.[1][2]

In 1799 it was carried to Paris, France by Napoleon. There, in 1802, the painting was transferred from panel to canvas by Hacquin and restored by Roser of Heidelberg.[1][2] A note was made by the restorer: "Rapporto dei cittadini Guijon Vincent Tannay e Berthollet sul ristauro dei quadri di Raffaello conosciuto sotto il nome di Madonna di Foligno." [3]

In 1815, after the Battle of Waterloo, it was returned to Italy, where it was placed in the room with the Transfiguration[1][2] in the Pinacoteca Vaticana of the Vatican Museum in the Vatican City.

The painting is a sacra conversazione, where holy figures seem to be in conversation and draw the audience into their discussion.[4] Rather than sitting under a canopy, of the Umbrian or Florentine style,[2] the Virgin is seated on clouds, embracing Jesus, while surrounded by angels. They look down upon Sigismonde de' Conti, kneeling in a red, fur lined cape. Conti is presented by St. Jerome on the right with his lion, appealing for the Virgin's protection. On the left are the kneeling St. Francis of Assisi and St. John the Baptist, who is standing and wearing a tunic of skins. As St. John points to Jesus, he clearly looks out to us, pulling us in, while St. Francis points to us and looks at the Christ Child. Between the men is an angel, linking the saints of earth to the seraph host of heaven. Behind them are the towers of Foligno.[1][2][3][4][5]

Painted during Raphael's Roman period, it is a testament to his artistic maturity, evidenced in the paintings composition, coloring and form.[3]

Conti commissioned the painting to commemorate his survival of a shell that exploded near him during the Siege of Foligno, his hometown. He credited his safety to heavenly intervention.[2][3][4][5] According to historian Massimo Polidoro this painting has been used by UFO websites as evidence of a flying saucer crash. What Polidoro says you are actually seeing is the house of Sigismondo Conti and a fireball. Painters at this time used "symbolic meanings that were anything but random." The angel is holding a sign with nothing written on it. According to Polidoro this was because Sigismondo died before he could tell Raphael what "thank you" to the Virgin he wanted written on the sign. Polidoro calls the UFO explanation, "reinterpreting with the eyes of twenty-first-century Europeans the product of other cultures".[6]

• Gozzi Altarpiece