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The story goes that Raphael was passing through a village at a vintage time, and seeing a mother and child sitting in a doorway was filled with a desire to paint the beautiful group. The only materials to hand were empty wine-vats. On one of these Raphael seized, and began this picture on the upturned bottom of the vat.
- Then Raphael snatched a half-charred ozier stick,
- And on the wine-cask at that moment drew
- That Child and Mother, just then glorified
- By the last sunshine's deepest, softest hue.
The picture is treasured as one of the world's most beautiful paintings, but whether the wine-vat legend was invented to explain the peculiar shape we shall never know. As a composition pure and simple, look and judge for yourself.
