yr ’ THE PLANT SYMBOLISM OF RAPHAEL'S ALBA MADONA IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON fi Alba Madonna (ig. 1), long judged to be one of Raphael's greatest . triumphs in solving the compositional problems of the fondo, is a work of the artist’s m id reflects his amazing ability to profit by the advances of sin such matters as cowtrapposto and design, while yet retaining suitable elements from his own earlier style and iconographic ipstem. It is some of these Inter elements that concern us in this study. "As in a good many of his works, the artist has carefully delineated a sumber of plants in the lower foreground of this picture. For other similar instances in his exvre we may mention the little St. George and the Dragon (fig. 2), which now tangs in the same room with the Alba Madonna in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, the Madouna in the Meadow, in Vienna, the Belle Jardinire, in Paris, the Visitation, in Madrid, the Madowna of the Gotdfinch, in Florence, and even so Siliously academic a piece as the Entombment in the Borghese, Rome. This ten- éerey to embellish the lower portions of the paintings with floral elements is something that Raphael was early familiar with in the works of such masters (to tention but a very few of the most prominent) as Leonardo da Vinci (Madonna of the Rocks, in the Louvre), Perwzino (Crucifixion, hanging in the same room with the Aiba Madonna in the National Gallery of Art), Pinturicchio (the Kuecling ! Arringhior’ in the Duomo of Siena), Botticelli (the Primavera, in the Uffizi) and, re ——: | say work, the 1 paintings Raphael does not strangely enough, even Michelangela (in an early Uffizi), In some of his earl articular plants with too much thought or knowledge a sticnlar thematically symbolical significance in them. However, all throu casi 'corieal oy seems that this Inte date to sense any the artist was alertly receptive to stich minor mvatiers, and that he kept progressing ot only in things having to do with the techniques of his art, but also in evaluating more adequately items his iconographic system. Tt is more thar growth that the choice of plants shown and learni o be incorporater! into, or excluded from, likely that it is due to this constant artistic in the Alba Madonna is so much moreagainst the legend. around the holy personages are, on the contrary, definitely. identifiable, and most. are symbolically. signif- icant ' To take th St. John (fig: 3). which there is 0 common name Linnaeus of the botanists. is not entirely certain as to species, but I am assured by my botanical advi alpinum, and that he has no doubt tha imedium group 1, For sistance in De, Sioxey Fe Bua, of Rigs, Others have teen checked with ApKi4x0 Snmagraphia Flora Ftalioe, Ossa Flore Thao ilustrata, sd the plant immediately behind and to the left of legend or symbolism specifically connected with it, but it DES BEAU: oa sncaningl than what we find in some of the earlier works by manne ad. In act, with one minor mistake, and this ay aoe im botany rather than in symbolism, most of the items in ti painting are so well chosen as to make the Alba Madonya aa re taphael’s best worked ont easel pictures as fa Shmibolic iconography is concerned. ah ahic prefiminary statement in mind we way turn to the painting itself We find Mary seated jn a meadow behind which rain ney an attractive landscape with groves of trees, a few aetimes, a winding river, and a range of gently rolling hil earners rene bhve sky, Partly supported by, or pechaps lean- we stump she has been reading to the Christ Hinge has been interrupted momentarily: while he Infant Savior who reaches ont ing against, a tr Child, but the read the little St. John adores t to touch the little reed cross of the young Baptist. “The tree stump has been thought by some writers to be an ocak, but it is, in and of itself, quite unidentifiable. The oak Sdentifcation was probably advanced because of the legend to the feet that the picture was painted for, or at the request of, Pope Shui TT, on whose family escutcheon a quercine device was ‘However, as far as the internal evidence of the «, it is not possible to make any certain identification, ¢ from it any evidence for or employed, painting goe: and therefore we cannot deriv ‘The little flowering plants growing all up from left to right, we may begin This appears to be a little herb for the Epimedinm alpinum ‘The identification in this case rr that it is probably the species belongs to the or genus, Tam not aware of any ying some of these plane Lam inedted 10 faster, US. Dept of ARri yas Givin PAOLETT the Bureau of Planta 5 PLANT SYMBOLE a je not without significance that the gencric name was taken by ti es ‘rom the Materia Medica of Pedianos Doworlden GUE physician who worked in Rome, This work was sery Ger ning the Aide Ages and as leked up as ene Tolwnie? sourees, if not the fountain-head, of pharmacctical ecany., Dioseorides fins this to say of Epimedinm :.. it bears ‘ berths seed nor flowers, ... Ye root eauseth barrenness and ye Kanes, beaten small and drank in wine after ye menstreal pungation, ye quantity of 3 dragms for 3 days keeps women from Conception? ”. In other words, this plant, behind (which is smbolically the equivalent of “before”) the Baptist seems to sazefeay mL ANY Oe cat “barrennese, of the sterity of the oa . world. In this connec: ae Deak and barren pagan of Michelangelo's Doni means used to conv and lack of fruitiulness implications ia the two respect at Teast, not dis- fondo, the general nore directly aned with while in the Alba panel gating at in the soft-spoken tien te allegory. se - Onristian ne may revall the background wei the Holy Fam the ese are very different, the jntings are, in this Sie Inthe Doni thought is rendered much starker imager; the idea is merely hinted nguage of floral ‘The little St. John is holding in his hands some an- coones (ig. 4). This flower is often known in Europe as the “Easter flower” or the “flower of the Resurrection Iecause of an ancient attachment to it of the idea of immor tality. According to Skinner, the red spots on its flowers, lave been considered as symbolic of the blood drops 0 Christ, “..for the sacred blood fell upon the anemones that were springing up on Calvary on the evening of the eruci- fcin.. As the fathers employed the triple leaf of this plant mibolize the three personalities of the godhead, it also ‘ele the name of ‘herb trinity’. ” g, Tit test plant, immediately below and infront of SY John's right thigh, is a white dandelion (Tarazacun “tfcinale Weber) (fig. § Br Ges Her oe Gara eas ‘This lowly plant was considered tee ‘ita satin ets strated by ¢ Deanne, A. D, S12, ‘Transaed iat, Eagle bs st and orinted by" eonexe "ECiseane, 1988 Book (V, No, 18 9 40. tx Myihs and Legends of Plosers, Trees, Frit and Plows, W250 of Dinvcoridesone of the bitter herbs and, as suck, was used asa symbol of the Passion, To the right of this and largely hidden under the Virgin’s left heel is what appears to be a sorrel (Rumex sp., probably seudatus Line haets), another one of the “hitter herbs”. Becanse its leaves varied from somewhat heart-shaped to arrow shaped, it was often thought to be a cordial or heart restorative fon the one hand, while, on the other, it was possibly. although not certainly, connected with the themes « rmactyrdom and of the plague, (‘The plague, being something disastrous that came to its vievim through the air, was = ted symbolically with the arrow from as tar back ag 76 Mu classical times. The great poriarty of St Selstin in Renae his being looked upon as te protector agains the pl Mee art was duc to because he hid been sho with arrows and bad survived them. Below and to the right of Mary's left foot is a delicately a Plant (fig. 6), one of the mustards ot eresses, apparently the Cardainine cilidone of Linnaeus, While I have fond no contemporary of earlier text with which a in the artis’ choice of this particular plant, I may point ont that several species of this group of herbs were (and still are) considered to have heart stimula ing or strengthening powers. In the language of allegory and symbolism, it won not be a far ery from this therapeutic wsige t0 a comparable symbolic om ‘The next plant to the right is a plantain (probably Platitago major Linnaeus) (ig. 7). Tts inclusion in this picture may possibly be connected with an old legen! bout it, although of this there is no certainly. ‘The legend relates that the plan- tain loves to grow only along places or paths frequented by men; it thrives even when trod upon by their passing feet and it does not like to grow far from human haunts. To this extent it may be a symbol of the well-trodden path, of the coming following of Christ, of the multitudes who would seek the path that leads to Him In England. one variety of plantain used to he called “way bread”, but not because ¥y food value it might have, Another old legend tells us that once in every seven years one of the varieties of plantain becomes a bird. I do not know of any Halian version of this latter story and so cannot vouch for its possible applicability in the present usage, but the fact that a bird was a common symbal of the soxl is, festive, It must be admitted that T have fornd no explicit mention of tain in symbolic writings, but by the time of the date of the Alba Madowa, artists were less rigidly bound to authoritative church legends than they were in earlier centuries, and were free to introduce new i onious in their content To the right of the planta primar neated erusiferous ms, provided they were not inhar- in is an unmistakable violet (17 symbolic meaning of the violet is “humility”. fa sp.) (fig. 8). The St. Bernard, it may be recalled,POANT SYMNOLISAT syiolet_ of humility”. Haig and beloved flower is sed in usively to indicate the a pan Himself our bes : rat this Familia 05 Mat, almost. ox dls Sod in tak at Gorisiat he Son of C ne Tie (which 6 ore thaw enouh pana 17 e's use of the viet ere) may, be sant oF the lowers on which the shadow Fi ge ay of the crucifixion was the of the FS thers in that shadow. it drooped. in sero ar, cso nthe purple of hitch serie and the wearing, amethyst jewels by FO orphanage oF idowhood. 085 ahily. behind the right-most "fo the right and jas of the Y pes Tying on the grotind, is This plant is 1 cyclamen (fig. 9). ior ans t0 Be : st Ge ty ad, ote i oe segment Mg base the Mire op at rep ty cent of its lower wwas considered sytmbofi te of sorrow that pierced Mary’s hear Skier tells us that f Inmediately behind 1 My botanical expert, Dr. Bl the sufferings and death of Her Som, Tike reason the cyclamen is also often called “bleeding man”, ine cyclamen are three tall stems, cach with their whorls ce, identifies them as a kind of Ieporula odorata Linnacus, but admits that it would take a ‘hem from Goleunn, and it is the later plant that 1 think Rapinacl hal in mind, —Galewm: is commonly called “lady's ed-atraw” and i pertinent to the present picture in that the effect that some pieces of this formed Mary's bet at the aly”, rabiaccous lotanist to distinguish there is an old story to plant were among the straws that time of the birth of Christ (hence its common nate referring, of course Jur Lady”), Raphael was an prtist, not a botanist, and inadvertently took a plant very Similgr in appearance to the one he intended using. T think Are should be allowed as wide a margin of error in trans” Hdenifying his rendition, and, personally at Ieast, I have 1 arson hat he meant to depict Galcum and not sperda. It iam was so great to is interesting to find that the artist’s rea a vat kts botanical mistake is perceptible to a botanist, 08 ce ther hand, tt reminds us that while we often wi €m 1 Seinen, Op eit pe 281aceurate in his delineations of such minor items, ye artist were more precise and s ‘inst too much accuracy with an erroneous foun. must also be prepared to guard agi dation. . The botanical knowledge and usages of the Italian painters are still very impor. fectly studied. Some years ago Forti? made a serious study of these matters ins. far as Francesco Moroni and Girolamo dai Libri are concerned, and others have identified Leonardo's plant depictions. However, in spite of Haig's little book, and Mra. Marqunand’s statics, much still remains to be done in this field. It seems safe to assert, however, that Raphael’s Aba Madonna reveals, perhaps to an unusual degree, the wealth of meanings that floral clements could and did convey to the audience for whom were painted the pictures in which they appear. HERRERT FRIEDMANN. Acunuut Fontt, Shui av le Flora della Pi y cas ie at flr te Poe CClastica Veronese. Francesco Morone ¢ Girolamo 6 6 ELizaseri Hate, The 'Fioval Symboliem of the Greet Masters, 1913