Raphael Sanzio, Florence 1515 / Reworking of the Madonna dei garofani (below)
(ICONOGRAPHIC SHIFT)



CLUES AND EVIDENCE OF Raphael’s presence in Florence in 1515 (AND EARLY 1516)

CLUES AND EVIDENCE PRESENTED IN OUR ARTICLE, « LES ENTRÉES “TRIOMPHALES” À MILAN, FLORENCE ET BOLOGNE EN 1515 : LES ARTISTES ITALIENS AU SERVICE DE LÉON X ET DE FRANÇOIS Iᵉʳ » 
BY LAURE CHEVALIER AND PAULINE DESCHAMPS-KAHN 

[Below]
PhotoRaphael’s Presence in Florence vs Rome (1515-1516)




A BODY OF CLUES AND EVIDENCE SUPPORTING Raphael’s presence in Florence in 1515 (and early 1516)

  • Archival records (Carte Strozziane, ASF)
  Two occurrences of the name Raffaello da Urbino appear in the Lista de la casa del illustrissimo signor Giuliano de’ Medici (household list of Giuliano de’ Medici, lord of Florence) for 1515, one of them dated 28 April 1515 and countersigned by Giuliano. Reference cited: Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Carte Strozziane, s. I, f. 10, fol. 178v, 179v.

  • Façade of San Lorenzo (commissioned by Leo X, 1515)
  Leo X commissioned Raphael to design the façade of San Lorenzo; a copy  (Uffizi, U 2048A) of the now-lost drawing is recorded. The complexity of the project required Raphael’s presence on site in late 1515 – early 1516.

  • Testimony of contemporaries and later sources
-  Vasari (Life of Michelangelo): on the occasion of Leo X entry into Florence (30 November 1515, not 3 September), the pope summoned Raphael to work on the façade of San Lorenzo.
-   Baccio Bandinelli, letter of 7 Dec. 1547: “His Holiness sent Raphael of Urbino and Buonarroti to Florence” to settle the question of the façade.
-   Quatremère de Quincy (1825) likewise states that Leo X  brought Michelangelo and Raphael to Florence.

Taken together, these sources support Raphael's actual presence in Florence at the end of 1515

  • Concurrent Florentine architectural projects
-   Palazzo Pandolfini: documents published by C. L. Frommel date the beginning of construction to February 1516, implying Raphael's presence on site to initiate and oversee the work.
-   The debated attribution to Raphael of designs for Palazzo Ugoccioni has likewise been associated with this  Florentine stay.

  • Context of the festivities of 1515
  Leo X's solemn entry into Florence on 30 November 1515 prompted an extensive programme of pageantry and ephemeral architecture. Our article emphasises the role played by these ceremonies in bringing leading artists, including Raphael, to Florence to design and coordinate these displays.

  • Arguments from Raphael's absence from Rome
  -   In Rome, in late 1515–early 1516, several projects — including  the Fire in the Borgo, and Cardinal Bibbiena's the loggetta and stufetta — appear to have been executed mainly by Raphael’s workshop (Giulio Romano, Penni, Giovanni da Udine), supporting the hypothesis that Raphael was temporarily away from Rome.
 -   A notarial act of 8 November 1515  concerning Raphael’s purchase of a house was executed by proxy (Raimondi), providing further evidence that he was not in Rome on that date.

CONCLUSION
Taken together— Florentine archival records, testimony from Vasari and Bandinelli, architectural commissions at San Lorenzo, and Palazzo Pandolfini, and documented “silences” in Rome — these elements make Raphael's presence in Florence in late 1515 - early 1516 highly probable.

See the original article below (PDF).

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« Les entrées “triomphales” à Milan, Florence et Bologne en 1515 : les artistes italiens au service de Léon X et de François Iᵉʳ » 
​by Laure Chevalier and Pauline Deschamps-Kahn published in: 

Publications du Centre européen d’Études bourguignonnes, numéro 64, in Écclésiastiques, intellectuels et artistes au service du prince, en pays bourguignons et italiens (XIVᵉ–XVIᵉ siècles), edited by Alain Marchandisse and Gilles Docquier, 2024, pp 271–288.




REWORKINF OF THE MADONNA DEI GAROFANI AND OTHER FLORENTINE WORKS (1515–1516)
— Federico Barocci, after a study of the Child's torso and left leg for The Madonna dei garofani [Chatron]: Raphael used the carnation stems to conceal two earlier contour line along the Child's back.
Federico Barocci, Study of the torso and left leg of the Child for Raphael's Madonna of the Carnations - Chatron
[La Madonna dei garofani].
Florence, Galerie degli Uffizi. Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle stampe, Inv. 11530 F recto.
Photo



This drawing by Barocci, after a study by Raphael, is consistent with the master's intermediate design, wich corresponds to a very advanced stage in the execution of the painting, close to the final version of The Madonna dei garofani [Chatron]. Raphael used a device — the carnation stems — to conceal two earlier contour lines along the Child's back.

Originally, the position and volume of the Child's body were different, as confirmed by scientific imaging of The Madonna dei garofani [Chatron].

Federico Barocci's drawing shows the same modifications as those observed in the scientific images, corresponding to different stages in the execution of Raphael's pictorial project.

At the final stage of the painting, the master from Urbino used a copper-rich shadow layer to conceal the Child's genital area, followed by the opaque lead-white paint of the cushion, in response to new dogmatic requirements concerning the Conception of the Virgin Mary and its representation [Decree of condemnation of 19 December 1513 / Cajetan's 1515 Tractatus de conceptione B. Virginis Mariae, condemned by Bartolomeo Spina in 1545]. [UNPUBLISHED]


Intermediate and final stages of Raphael Sanzio's pictorial project for the Chatron Madonna (Madonna dei garofani), 1507-1520 — detail.
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Photo
Middle and Final pictorial projects of The Madonna Chatron (Madonna dei garofani), by Raphael (1507_1520) - detail. ©AGALMATA
Middle and Final pictorial projects of The Madonna Chatron (La Madonna dei garofani), by Raphael Sanzio (1507_1520) - detail. ©AGALMATA