In this painting the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael depicts the Virgin Mary watching over her son, Jesus Christ, and his cousin John the Baptist.
Through his use of composition, color, and light, Raphael conveys a spiritual harmony. An unspoiled world made believable by means of an expansive atmospheric space.
Raphael employs what might initially seem like a charming interaction between children to foreshadow Christ’s death on the cross. As he steps forward and takes hold of this slim cross, Christ is accepting his mission of sacrifice.
The aesthetic unity of Raphael’s art visualizes how Christ’s incarnation and passion could have spiritually inspired his presumed Renaissance Catholic viewer to imagine a world of perfected grace.