Raphael and the Renaissance of Divine Beauty

 

 "Why is she holding a unicorn?

A little baby unicorn: a foal with soft fur, a snub nose, a smooth muzzle, and a horn like a narwhal’s tusk spiraling up to heaven. The maiden that Raphael painted around 1505 cradles the critter, tender and tame. She’s sitting upright, at a slight angle, in this half-length profile. She’s gazing out and to the side: the same breath-of-life pose in which Leonardo placed a brunette named Lisa a few years before.

But why a unicorn?'"

READ THE ARTICLE BY  JASON FARAGO