Raphael: The Woman With the Veil

In 1516, Raphael painted La Donna Velata (The Woman With the Veil). Through June 6, the High Renaissance painter’s magnificent portrait is on display at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) in a one-work exhibition titled “Raphael: The Woman With the Veil.” Transported to MAM’s Koss Gallery from the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy, this temporary acquisition gives Milwaukeeans a rare chance to study Raphael’s interpretation of idyllic beauty. Modern culture may recognize Raphael for the tousled-hair putti staring up into the clouds of his wondrous, widely printed The Sistine Madonna. The robust and realistic features in these two cherubic faces translate to the woman in Raphael’s later, even more stunning portrait. The Woman With the Veil is thought to depict the same woman in Raphael’s partially nude La Fornarina. It’s a woman the painter obviously regarded with affection, as demonstrated in the tender placement and rendering of her hand.