La Madonna de Bogota (Raphael)

The Madonna of Bogota is a painting of the Madonna and Child, redisovered in Bogotá, Colombia in 1938, that has been attributed to Raphael.

Rediscovery

In 1938 Mrs. Maria Mendoza a friend of Master Santiago Martinez Delgado invited him and his wife Leonor Concha de Martinez, to her home in Bogotá. Mrs. Mendoza had with her a painting she thought to be by Gregorio Vazquez Arce y Ceballos, a well-known Colombian artist about whom Martinez Delgado had written a book. Based on the fact that Martinez was considered an expert in Art History and Arce y Ceballos, she asked him to attribute the piece. As soon as Master Martinez laid eyes on the painting he immediately knew that it was either by Raphael Sanzio or by someone in his school.

The piece was in very poor condition, split in two and kept together by a piece of wire. Master Martinez took the painting for further study and research, and after taking x-rays and other steps he was convinced that it was, in fact, an original Raphael. When the rumor about the painting reached the press, it quickly started a heated debate; some dismissed it, including the El Tiempo daily that argued that it was a copy of a Raphael piece currently at the Museo del Prado.

Soon the Master called for a symposium at the municipal theater to discuss the matter. The event was attended by well-known Colombian experts like Enrique Uribe White, Antonio Bergmann, Domingo Otero and Ines Acevedo Biester. Martinez explained the provenance and the scientific...
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