Raphael or Perugino? About A.S.Pushkin’s "Madonna"
Pushkin doesn’t mention in his sonnet “Madonna" what particular painting he was dreaming of. In Soviet times, it was considered that it was the so-called “Bridgewater Madonna"by Raphael (it was based on the article of one of the leading Pushkinists of the time M.A.Tsiavlovsky). However, the “Bridgewater Madonna" doesn’t match the description in the poem. Could it be Perugino, another great Italian artist? Comparing the description, the author concludes that it was Perugino’s painting that inspired Pushkin.