The Small Cowper Madonna
c. 1505 · Oil on panel · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
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About this work
- Artist
- Raphael (1483–1520)
- Year
- c. 1505
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Original size
- 59.5 × 44 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- Movement
- Renaissance
The Virgin, in a red dress with a blue mantle over her knees, is seated in a green countryside holding the Christ Child, who wraps an arm around her neck and turns to look out; on a hill at the right stands a domed church. Raphael painted the small panel in about 1505, probably in Urbino and for a private patron, since no record of the commission survives. The church is widely identified as San Bernardino outside Urbino, burial place of the city's dukes, which has led scholars to suggest a member of the ducal family ordered it for private devotion. The name comes from George Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper, who bought it around 1780, and distinguishes it from the larger Cowper Madonna, also in Washington. Six generations of Cowpers kept it until 1913; the Philadelphia collector Peter A. B. Widener bought it the next year, and his son Joseph gave it to the National Gallery of Art in 1942.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
The Virgin in red and blue holding the Child before a green hill and a small domed church, gentle and bright, for a bedroom, landing or living room at 18×24 in natural wood. A pale blue, cream or soft green wall; it pairs with The Sistine Madonna.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (c. 1505)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, bedroom, hallway or entryway, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 18×24. Prints at 12×16, 18×24, 24×32 in — 12×16 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 18×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×32 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Small Cowper Madonna in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Small Cowper Madonna painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
