Urbino: the sleeping Madonna and Child and Casa Santi

What it is and where it is

On Via Raffaello, at number 57, having crossed the threshold of the sober Furlo stone portal, one enters the noble 15th-century building where Raphael was born. The structure, now the home of the Raphael Academy and a museum of his birthplace, has rooms on the first floor dedicated to the workshop where the artist Giovanni Santi, Raphael's father, worked. A staircase leads to the rooms on the upper floor among which is the one, where Raphael is presumed to have been born. Here shows off the delightful, sweet and enchanting fresco depicting the Madonna and Sleeping Child, datable to about 1498.

Why it is special

It is a work of warm colors, pervaded by an almost divine light, precious because it testifies to the artistic nature that child Raphael was acquiring. Indeed, it is one of the very first works assigned to the artist, perhaps 15 years old, who took inspiration from the countless artistic influences that came to the ducal city. For example, the shadow in the niche highlighting the profile of the Virgin harks back to mid-15th-century Florentine examples related to the taste of Piero della Francesca; not to mention the inspiration given to him by the handmaiden in the Nativity in the Predella of the Fano Altarpiece by Perugino and workshop.