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Primary sourcePaintingc. 1513-1514

Sistine Madonna

Raphael · c. 1513-1514

An altarpiece painted by Raphael showing the Virgin Mary and Christ Child with Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara, one of his most celebrated late works.

One of Raphael's last and most famous Madonnas, commissioned near the end of his career.

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Painting of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child on clouds between green curtains, flanked by Saint Sixtus in gold robes on the left and Saint Barbara on the right, with two cherubs at the bottom.
Raphael, Sistine Madonna, c. 1513-1514. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting was commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II for a church in Piacenza and likely finished around 1513-1514. It shows the Madonna and Child flanked by Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara, with two famous winged putti below. It was later sold to Augustus III of Poland in 1754, moved to Dresden, and survives today in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden after being temporarily taken to Moscow following the Second World War.

Why it matters

The painting became hugely influential in German culture, inspiring writers such as Goethe and Dostoyevsky and shaping Romantic ideas about art and religion. Its long and eventful history—from a Piacenza church to royal Dresden to wartime rescue—shows how Raphael's reputation grew long after his death and how art can become bound up with politics and national identity.

Look closer

  • Why might a painting of this subject become such a powerful cultural symbol centuries later?
  • What might the choice of flanking saints tell you about who commissioned the work?
  • How does the painting's journey across countries reflect the history of Europe itself?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Raphael on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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