The ''Orléans Madonna'' is a c.1506-1507 painting of the

Madonna and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. It was acquired by

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), who was known as the Regent, was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to i ...

for the

Orléans collection The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is ...

, giving it its present name. It is now in the

Musée Condé The – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the château and ...

in Chantilly.

History

Copies of the work are mentioned in Piedmont in the early 16th century and the Piedmont-born painter

Giovanni Martino Spanzotti Giovanni Martino Spanzotti (c. 1455 – c. 1528; also known as ''Gian Martino Spanzotti'') was an Italian painter active in Piedmont, Lombardy and northern Italy. Biography He was born in Casale Monferrato and died in Chivasso. Little is kn ...

mentioned it as a "tabuleto fiorentino" in a 1507 letter to

Charles II of Savoy Charles II or Charles John Amadeus (''Carlo Giovanni Amedeo'' in Italian) (23 June 1489, Turin, Piedmont – 16 April 1496), was the Duke of Savoy from 1490 to 1496 but his mother Blanche of Montferrat (1472–1519) was the actual ruler a ...

. Several other studio copies of the painting were made between 1507 and 1526, four of which are still known to survive, including one at the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

in Amsterdam and one in the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...

in Baltimore, USA. The original work remained in the collection of the Dukes of Savoy until the 17th century.

Christine of France Christine Marie of France (10 February 1606 – 27 December 1663) was Duchess of Savoy from 26 July 1630 to 7 October 1637 as the consort of Duke Victor Amadeus I. She was the daughter of Henry IV of France and sister of Louis XIII. Following he ...

bought four Raphael paintings in 1647, probably including this one. The work then vanishes until 1729, when it is mentioned in the ''Recueil d'estampes'' commissioned by

Pierre Crozat Pierre Crozat (1665–1740) was a French financier, art patron and collector at the center of a broad circle of ''cognoscenti''; he was the brother of Antoine Crozat. Biography The brothers Crozat were born in Toulouse, France, the sons of a wea ...

as belonging to a man called Passart then passing to abbé François de Camps (1643-1723), scholar and bishop of Pamiers, and finally to Philippe d'Orléans (1674-1723). It was then kept in the

Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre Palace, Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Ca ...

until the French Revolution. In 1791

Philippe Égalité Philippe is a masculine given name, cognate to Philip, and sometimes also a surname. The name may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince ...

sold his whole collection of Italian paintings to his banker Édouard de Walkiers to cover his colossal debts. de Walkiers resold the collection to his cousin

François Laborde de Méreville François Louis Jean-Joseph de Laborde (1761–1801) was a French banker, deputy for the Third Estate to the Estates General of 1789 and garden lover. He also bore the name Méréville after his huge estate at château de Méréville in Beauce, Fra ...

. In 1798, the whole collection was sold in London to Lords Bridgewater, Gower and Carlyle, though they then resold the ''Madonna'', which was then acquired by the collectors Hibbert in London in 1799, Nieuwenhuys in 1831 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and Delamarre or de Lahaute in Paris. Next it was acquired by marquis Aguado in 1835 and finally by the businessman and parliamentarian

François Delessert François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 16 ...

(1780-1868). Delessert's collection was sold a year after his death and the ''Madonna'' was acquired by

Henri d'Orleans, Duke of Aumale Henri Eugène Philippe Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale (16 January 1822 – 7 May 1897) was a leader of the Orleanists, a political faction in 19th-century France associated with constitutional monarchy. He was born in Paris, the fifth son of ...

, who hung it in the 'Santuario' of his

château de Chantilly The Château de Chantilly () is a historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Paris. The site comprises two attached buildings: the Petit Château, built around 1560 for Anne de Montmore ...

, alongside '' Three Graces'' and a panel by

Filippino Lippi Filippino Lippi (probably 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian Renaissance painter mostly working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. He also worked in Rome for a ...

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{Authority control 1507 paintings Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Raphael Paintings in the Musée Condé Paintings formerly in the Orleans Collection

History

See also

Notes

References

External links