At the beginning of 1500, the young Raphael, already very famous, he was commissioned to paint the house of Agostino Chigi in the way of Lungara (Trastevere), what we now call “Villa Farnesina”.
Who knows the art better than I do, knows that from that time onwards, the various paintings and frescoes by Raphael produces the female “protagonist” of his work is represented in the same way, and unlike the previous period, as if the ideal of feminine beauty for Raphael had suddenly consolidated into those new features.
See for example the “Sistine Madonna” (Dresden, Gemaldegalerie), the “Veiled Woman” (see photo at right), the “Madonna of the Chair” (Florence, Palazzo Pitti) …
A romantic Roman legend gives an explanation to this fact: it is said that Raphael, during a break in the work of Villa Farnesina, stood nearby, by dint of Dorotea and, turning his gaze upwards, noticing a beautiful girl looking out a window, busy combing her hair. He saw her, he fell in love, and from then on always claims that girl as a model for his work.
The girl, who according to tradition called Margherita Luti (or Luzi), was the simple daughter of a baker, and this was known by all the “Fornarina”.
I’m quite happy to think the idea that in many churches in Rome people go to pray under the image of the Madonna … but which in fact represented the humble daughter of a baker!
There is a very famous painting by Raphael, recently restored, which is visible in Rome, is called just “La Fornarina”, near the Barberini gallery.
From the restoration of such a framework, and a renewed interest in the life of the painter from Urbino, there were new research and new hypotheses about this legendary woman, initially considered only the fruit of popular imagination, but now some believe really existed and with a role relevant in the (short) life of the artist.
Today, perhaps because of the possibility of photographing always and cheaply, we are accustomed to use “disposable” of images, and we can much more difficult to grasp the significance of the “symbols” of metaphors, in fact. of .. “puzzle” hidden behind the images.
On the other hand, major artists such as Raphael, well aware of the value of their works, arrovellavano months, even years, after the construction of figures should not simply represent reality, but rather had to feed the intellect. The result then was that the work provided many, many more details of reality, information might very well hidden.
For example, the framework of Fornarina, a pretty but seemingly simple portrait, hides a lot of intriguing information. Here is one.
Here, as in other similar pictures, the Fornarina appears with a jewel rather unusual for the time and for its location, that is a pearl on the front (see photo detail). Why?
Well … Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, as well as did Petrarch (his favorite poet) in the field of poetry, is hiding the name of his beloved … and he’s just putting on forehead … in Latin In fact, “pearl” is “margarita”!
But let’s street of St. Dorothy n.20, where was the “first meeting”. Look up, as did Raphael … no one would notice without ever knowing it, but there is a window different from the others, pointed, of archaic style …
And yes, it is the “window of Fornarina” are gone forever, but for the sake of this legend have left this window the same as it appeared Margherita …
Since then, the women in Trastevere have the reputation of being the most beautiful in the Rome.