The Marriage of the Virgin

The Marriage of the Virgin is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael, 1504. It is housed in the Pinacoteca di Brera of Milan. The panel (signed and dated: ) was commissioned by the Albizzini family for the chapel of St Joseph in the church of S. Francesco of the Minorities at Città di Castello, in Umbria. In 1798 the town was forced to donate the painting to General Lechi, a Napoleonic army officer, who sold it to the Milanese art dealer, Sannazzari. Sannazzari bequeathed it to the main hospital of Milan in 1804. Two years later it was acquired by the Academy of Fine Arts and was then exhibited at the Brera. Critics believe the painting to be inspired by two compositions by Perugino: the celebrated Christ Delivering the Keys to St. Peter from the fresco cycle in the Sistine Chapel and a panel containing the Marriage of the Virgin now in the Museum of Caën. By painting his name and the date, 1504, in the frieze of the temple in the distance, Raphael abandoned... full article at wikipedia