By Clara Ferreira-Marques
The tiny pearl brooch seems an innocuous detail in Raphael’s enigmatic Fornarina portrait.
But for one group of historians it unlocks a scandalous love affair kept secret for centuries.
According to new research, the pearl, pinned onto an elaborate turban, is part of a web of allusions to the Renaissance artist’s clandestine marriage to the beautiful sitter, a baker’s daughter – despite a very public engagement to the niece of a powerful Vatican cardinal.
Officially, Raphael died a bachelor at 37.
“It was an impossible love affair,“ says Maurizio Bernardelli Curuz, editor of specialist journal Stile, who led a year of research into Raphael’s romantic riddle.
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“It is hard to overstate Raphael’s status in Rome – he was a superstar. The distance separating them was like that which today would separate George Clooney and his cleaner.”
The pearl, also included in the Velata portrait, suggests the sitter’s name was Margherita – the Latin word for pearl – and not Maria Bibbiena, the artist’s intended bride.
It ties Margherita to a string of nuptial allegories in the Fornarina, from the band on her arm bearing Raphael’s name – an unusual way to sign a painting – to a wedding ring on her finger, later covered up by the painter’s anxious students.
“It may seem artificial to us, but these were everyday games at the Renaissance courts,” says Curuz.
“At least until the 18th century, the allegorical side of painting was extremely important. It was Impressionism that dampened our ability to read a painting like a book.”
The art historian says he has found evidence to support the allegories, from contemporary documents to x-rays of the Fornarina painting carried out during a recent restoration.
“Of course this is not just about the pearl, nor is it just about the documents.
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