The Marriage of the Virgin (1504) by Raphael - Art Poster

The Marriage of the Virgin by Raphael was painted in 1504 for the Albizzini Chapel, located in the Church of San Fancisco al Prato in Città di Castello.
When the artist did the painting he was in Umbria, was 21 years old and had already completed his apprenticeship at Perugino’s workshop and was about to move to Florence.

The scene depicted in The Marriage of the Virgin by Raphael is set in a large square overlooked by a large 16-sided round temple, where you can enter through a staircase and the entrance door opens towards the horizon. In the middle of the portico, above the arch in the front of the temple door, is the artist’s signature “Raphael Urbinas” (Raphael from Urbino) and the date “MDIIII” (1504).
In the foreground is a marriage ceremony and we are spectators of the moment in which the spouses, Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary, exchange wedding rings in front of the priest.

On the right is a boy breaking a twig with his knee, while other four boys behind Saint Joseph are showing twigs referring to an episode from the Apocryphal Gospels.

The Marriage of the Virgin in fact, portrays an episode not described in one of the four canonical Gospels. A tale focusing on the life of the young Virgin Mary, who spent her adolescence in the Jerusalem Temple, and when she had to choose a husband she couldn’t choose among his suitors. So, the High Priest helped her, by giving each man a twig waiting for a sign: the twig that bloomed was Joseph’s, the oldest suitor.

This painting marks the final part of Raphael’s early artistic period, who painted this work at the age of 21 and he was inspired by a famous painting by Perugino, almost copying its composition, but producing ingenious solutions that make his interest in rigorous perspective and study of ancient models arouse.

Raphael brought a gust of fresh air to Western painting: the spontaneity of figures, which is a feature also of The Marriage of the Virgin, where the characters have natural movement and are immersed in a bright space.