Raphael - La Donna Velata
La Donna Velata is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful portraits I have ever been lucky enough to spend time with.
My first meeting with her happened at a Raphael exhibition at the National Gallery in London back in 2022 - which I had actually originally been visiting specifically with the goal of seeing his portrait of Binto Altoveti (A work we covered previously here - and which I had been an admirer of for many years, despite having only ever seen it in books before)
But shortly after spending a good deal of time with that painting, I remember wandering into the very next section of the exhibition. And as soon as I spotted La Donna Velata hanging on the wall to my right . . , frankly, every other painting in the place just melted away for me.
From the sheer beauty of her face, to the shimmering whites and golds of her dress, and the way she genuinely seemed to illuminate the entire room around her . . . this was a level of high definition painting I had never seen before.
It was as if Raphael had painted something more real than realism itself.
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So, in my own personal opinion, La Donna Velata, (or “The woman with the veil”) deserves her place right up there with Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” as being among the most sublime portraits in all of art history.
Only, unlike those other two masterpieces . . . with Raphael’s lady, we actually know who she really was too.
Margarita Luti - otherwise known as La Fornarina (the baker’s daughter) - was Raphael’s model and mistress.
But, even more than this, she seems to have been the women he adored most in the world. (Despite the artist’s own reputation (According to Giorgio Vasari) for being “an overly amorous man . . . very fond of the ladies”)
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The two of them met for the first time while Raphael was living in Rome and working in the service of the Vatican.
His main residence at the time was in Trastevere - close to the banks of the River Tiber, where Margarita could often be found sitting alone, bathing her feet in the waters.
And it’s possible that her choice of this particular spot was no accident. After all, Raphael was well known at the time as one of the most charming men in the city (not to mention among the most famous painters too) - hence, it would not be all that surprising to imagine a young girl like Margarita hanging around close to where he lived, hoping to engineer a meeting with this famed artist.
But equally, Rome itself is a Romantic city by its very nature - with a particular habit of fixing these kinds of meetings by good fortune and fate too.
So even if Margarita really had just chosen her riverside spot by pure chance - certainly, it would not have taken much for a man like Raphael to stroll past one day, and notice her extraordinary beauty.
Of course, we can imagine that first glance - and the artist walking over to strike up a conversation - and inviting the lady to visit studio - and asking her is she had ever considered modelling.
These were well trodden lines that Raphael would likely have used with countless other models and muses in the past . . . it’s just that, this time, it seems he genuinely did feel something very different about Margarita.
In fact, Raphael later said that her beauty captured him like a lightning bolt . . . but that he actually fell in love with her when he started to realise how "her mind is even more beautiful than her body”
And from that point on, his infatuation with Margarita became so overwhelming, it actually started affecting his ability to work.
Hence, while commissioned to paint a series of frescos at Villa Farnesina - Raphael’s patron Agostino Chigi apparently became so frustrated with the lovestruck artist being unable to concentrate for long enough to complete his paintings . . . eventually, he decided to invite Margarita herself to stay with them at the Villa too; if only so that she could convince the artist to actually turn up to work on time!
And in another life, perhaps the story of Raphael & Margarita really would have gone on to become Art History’s greatest love affair of all.
But sadly, their time together was destined never to last as long as either of them might have hoped.
Due to various social pressures, Raphael eventually found himself being talked into a more formal engagement with another woman, named Maria Dovici (The daughter of one of his more important patrons - hence, this was likely just as much a business move as it was a romantic liaison).
And admittedly, we can’t overlook the fact that the artist’s amorous nature still remained just as strong as ever too; leading him through countless other affairs, and very likely contributing to his early death in 1520 at the age of only 38. (Something which many of his contemporaries blamed on the great man’s over indulgent lifestyle . . . i.e he had simply exhausted himself through passion)
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Meanwhile, as for what happened to Margarita - we know that she retired to a convent around 4 months after Raphael’s death. But from there, sadly we have no further record over whether she stayed with the nuns permanently, or where else her life may have taken her.
Yet still, with this one image alone, and how Raphael seems intent on elevating her almost to divine status . . . her place in the pages of art history has been secured forever.
Though countless lovers over the years may have charmed Raphael’s mind, body, and heart . . . there is no doubt at all, Margarita Luti is the only one who ever truly captured his soul.
Bonus Section
The story of Raphael and Margarita has been open to a lot of mythologizing over the years (As all love stories are). - from history, to fiction, to poetry and film.
But, just for a little extension here today, I couldn’t resist including three more paintings from other great artists too . . . all of which have been directly inspired by this famous love affair.
Thoroughly excellent! One of your best
Oh!
You can almost reach out and touch her sleeve.
Thanks, George.