Focus on Madonna del Prato (Raphael) and explore the Technique.
For this painting, as well as in others such as the Madonna of the Goldfinch, Raphael followed the techniques of Leonardo da Vinci (who was also in Florence at the time) in blocking its subjects in pyramidal form; this can be observed in such works as Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks. A red-chalk composition study, one of many preparatory drawings for the painting made by Raphael, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.In 1983, the Chief Conservator for Paintings at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna removed the retouchings and varnish that deformed the Madonna of the Meadow. Restoration  revealed that this painting's structure is similar to that of the Small Cowper Madonna, and consists of translucent oil glazes, opaque underpaint and gesso ground. Furthermore, the observed damages were caused by the same factors, namely Raphael's painting technique in the robe and mantle. In the Madonna of the Meadow, the blue robe is disfigured by a wide craquelure provoked by the uneven drying of the oil layers. Additionally, the painting is characterized by a great depth of shadows and a subtle interplay of the cool and warm tones that model the flesh. A bluish undertone, visible in the shadows and edges of the panel, underlies the creamy white and pink of the flesh. Moreover, close examination of the work suggests that the sky was painted after the figures were executed, since the blue brush strokes appear to follow the contours of the figures and are perceptible not only on the surface but also in x-radiographs. When examined using infra-red techniques, the Madonna of the Meadow also betrays an underdrawing, completed when the design was transferred onto the panel; the marks left by this transfer are clear, and the lines that connect them are precise, illuminating the artist's process.
Virgin of the Rocks Raphael Kunsthistorisches Museum Small Cowper Madonna left Madonna of the Goldfinch Vienna Leonardo da Vinci Metropolitan Museum of Art followed the techniques