L’altare Graziani da Raffaello a Palma il Giovane. Una copia della «Madonna» Canossa e una «sentenza» sfavorevole a Giovanni De’ Vecchi

Two unpublished letters reveal that Antonio Maria Graziani owned a copy of the «Madonna» by Raphael already in the Canossa house in Verona (also known as The Pearl by Raphael). The copy was created by a “not mediocre artist”, probably the Flemish painter Pietro de Petrij. In 1585, Graziani chose the “Madonna Canossa” as the model for his altar in the Sansepolcro cathedral. The commission remained pending for several years, until Graziani decided to entrust the invention of the canvas to Palma il Giovane (December 1600). The altarpiece was delivered in July 1602. This study completes the publication of the rich correspondence relating to the commissioning of the Graziani altar, which began with the study published in “Storia dell’arte” in 2018, n. 2: from the first idea of the painting in 1585, until its set-up on the altar in the summer of 1602. The letters also refer to a public comparison between the work of Palma and the Nativity of the Virgin painted some time earlier by Giovanni de’ Vecchi for the Rigi altar in the church of the Osservanza at Sansepolcro.