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Raphael's visit to Florence in about 1504
seems to have been motivated by his desire to see the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps in order to improve his skills in areas such as anatomy and perspective, where he was
still inexpert. He did not settle there but visited frequently between 1504 and 1508. His work during these years was extremely
varied in nature and scale, ranging from the series of madonnas he painted for individuals, such as the Small Cowper Madonna (c. 1505, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) to the large-scale religious works commissioned
for churches, such as The Entombment (1507, Borghese Gallery, Rome).
Raphael's style developed
fully during the years 1504-1508. He lost Perugino's air of sweetness and developed a bolder, more monumental manner that
was partly inspired by the works of Fra Bartolommeo. While his madonnas were idealized portraits of tranquil women, he also painted
real sitters; in La Muta (c. 1507, Ducal Palace, Urbino), the subject's finger
extends to press against the picture frame, creating an arresting and original pictorial device that reinforces the analogy
that a painting is akin to a window.
During his period in Florence,
Raphael was influenced by the pyramidal compositions of Leonardo, as can be seen in La
Belle Jardinière (c. 1507, Musée du Louvre, Paris). This is one of a series of paintings of the Virgin and Child, often
with St John the Baptist,
in an outdoor setting. Leonardo's influence is also apparent in the Bridgewater Madonna
(c. 1507, Duke of Sutherland Collection, on loan to National Gallery of Scotland); here, the Virgin's sweetly smiling expression
and contraposto (twisted) pose are derived from Leonardo, while the pose of the
Infant Jesus is derived from Michelangelo.
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