Sistine Madonna, Renaissance oil painting at Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany
The Sistine Madonna shows Mary holding the infant Jesus, accompanied by Pope Sixtus II and Saint Barbara standing on a cloud above a balustrade. Two small angels lean on a parapet at the bottom, gazing upward into the scene.
Raphael created the work between 1512 and 1513 for the Benedictine monastery of San Sisto in Piacenza, where it remained until the mid-18th century. Augustus III of Poland acquired it in 1754 for his collection in Dresden.
The title refers to Pope Sixtus II, shown on the left beside Mary and gesturing toward the Christ child. The two angels at the bottom look upward and appear in art reproductions worldwide.
The painting is part of the permanent collection at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and hangs in a dedicated room on the upper floor. Visitors can sit on a bench in front of it and view the details up close.
During World War II the painting spent several years at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow after the Soviet Army recovered it from a mine in 1945. It returned to Dresden only in 1955 and became a symbol of cultural diplomacy during the Cold War.
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