La Madonna de Bogota (Raphael)

La Madonna de Bogota by Raphael; after restoration work by Leo. A Marzolo.

La Madonna de Bogota by Raphael; as Santiago Martinez Delgado discover it.

The Madonna of Bogota is a painting of the Madonna and Child, rediscovered in Bogotá, Colombia in 1938, that has been attributed to Raphael.

Rediscovery

In 1938 Mrs. Maria Mendoza a friend of Master Santiago Martinez Delgado invited him and his wife Leonor Concha de Martinez, to her home in Bogotá. Mrs. Mendoza had with her a painting she thought to be by Gregorio Vazquez Arce y Ceballos, a well-known Colombian artist about whom Martinez Delgado had written a book. Based on the fact that Martinez was considered an expert in Art History and Arce y Ceballos, she asked him to attribute the piece. As soon as Master Martinez laid eyes on the painting he immediately knew that it was either by Raphael Sanzio or by someone in his school.

The piece was in very poor condition, split in two and kept together by a piece of wire. Master Martinez took the painting for further study and research, and after taking x-rays and other steps he was convinced that it was, in fact, an original Raphael. When the rumor about the painting reached the press, it quickly started a heated debate; some dismissed it, including the El Tiempo daily that argued that it was a copy of a Raphael piece currently at the Museo del Prado.

Soon the Master called for a symposium at the municipal theater to discuss the matter. The event was attended by well-known Colombian experts like Enrique Uribe White, Antonio Bergmann, Domingo Otero and Ines Acevedo Biester. Martinez explained the provenance and the scientific work done on the work making an irrefutable point. He also revealed that the painting had been brought to Colombia by Caballero Góngora; furthermore, Mr. Enrique Restrepo proved that although it was similar to the one in El Prado it was different in many aspects. The most important of these aspects is that the painting in Madrid's El Escorial Chapel had been there for a long time making it impossible to copy during the 16th century.

Finally in 1939 Martinez brought the painting to New York's Metropolitan Museum and to Columbia University where it was studied by Daniel Catton, Rich A. Sweet, Ruber H. Clark, Leo A. Marzolo, Adolfo Venturiy, and Wilhelm Valentiner, who was in New York for the International Fair. In June 1939 the painting was confirmed as an original Raphael and entered named the Madonna of Bogota. The piece was then taken to the Chicago Art Institute to be restored.

Joaquin Piñeros Corpas confirmed it in Colombia on an article in El Tiempo: “Confirmado: Madonna De Bogota Por Rafael Sanzio Urbino.” Many US papers acclaimed Master Martinez for his discovery.

Present

Nowadays, the whereabouts of the painting are unknown, but it's possibly being kept in a bank vault in New York City.

References

Periodico El Tiempo - 1938, 1939.
Chicago Tribune - 1939
Washington Post - 1939
NY Times - 1939
Wilhelm Valentiner Raphael Catalog
Santiago Martinez Delgado El Humanista by Joaquin Pineros Corpas - 1974 - Bogota Colombia
The Canberra Times Friday 20 October 1939

Raphael
Early works	The Kinnaird Resurrection Baronci Altarpiece St. Sebastian Oddi Altar Solly Madonna Mond Crucifixion Three Graces St Michael Portrait of a Man Connestabile Madonna Madonna and Child The Marriage of the Virgin Vision of a Knight St George Colonna Altarpiece Portrait of Perugino ¹ Madonna and Child with the Book
Florentine period	Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga ² Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltro ² Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro Self-portrait Madonna of the Grand Duke Ansidei Madonna Young Man with an Apple Christ Blessing Madonna Terranuova Madonna of the Goldfinch Madonna of the Meadow Esterhazy Madonna Small Cowper Madonna St George and the Dragon La donna gravida Portrait of Agnolo Doni Portrait of Maddalena Doni Madonna of the Pinks Young Woman with Unicorn Madonna with Beardless St Joseph Saint Catherine of Alexandria Canigiani Holy Family La belle jardinière Deposition of Christ Portrait of a Young Woman Tempi Madonna Madonna Colonna Madonna de Bogota
Roman period	Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese La disputa The School of Athens Madonna of Loreto Aldobrandini Madonna Madonna with the Blue Diadem Portrait of a Cardinal Alba Madonna Niccolini-Cowper Madonna The Parnassus Cardinal and Theological Virtues The Prophet Isaiah The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple Portrait of Pope Julius II Madonna of Foligno Madonna with the Fish Triumph of Galatea Sistine Madonna Madonna della seggiola Madonna dell'Impannata Madonna della tenda The Fire in the Borgo The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila Deliverance of Saint Peter The Mass at Bolsena Portrait of Bindo Altoviti The Sibyls Ecstasy of St. Cecilia Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione La donna velata Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila Portrait of Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena Church of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici Creation of the World Transfiguration Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary The Holy Family of Francis I Ezekiel's Vision St. Michael Vanquishing Satan Madonna of the Rose Self-Portrait with a Friend La Fornarina Visitation Portrait of a Young Man Miraculous Draught of Fishes Christ's Charge to Peter Healing of the Lame Man Death of Ananias Stoning of St. Stephen Conversion of the Proconsul Sacrifice at Lystra St Paul in Prison St Paul Preaching in Athens Palazzo Jacopo da Brescia
¹ Also attributed to Lorenzo di Credi ² Attributed

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