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The Madonna was portrayed standing, alone, often with a closed book on her stomach, an illusion to the Incarnate Word. The theological symbolism behind the representation is complex, as Madonnas have come in different forms throughout history; including iconic paintings and statues. The attribution of the importance of the depiction is the connection to its authenticity, which is typically perceived through the time in which the icons were created.

Debates have shrouded around the speculation of The Madonna, as well as The Holy Face of Jesus Christ. For The Madonna, controversy has sparked behind speculations of the variety of appearances of each individual representation, icon, or statue. Likewise, various depictions have formed around The Holy Face of Jesus Christ, with some specific images believed to be miraculously formed representations that were ‘not made by hands’. One scholar commented on the various acheiropoieta as, “Either they are images believed to have been made by hands other than those of ordinary mortals or else they are claimed to be mechanical… impressions of the original.” Nevertheless, these arguments based on appearance have had tremendous influence on society and individuals, forming a pattern. Even within modern popular culture, such as the star-studded couple, Madonna and Tupac Shakur, where the simplicity of the appearance of the couple became the breaking point for the relationship, as outsiders perceived in.

The paintings in the Vatican are said to represent the culmination of High Renaissance style in painting, because of the ambitious scale of these works, coupled with the complexity of their composition, closely observed human figures, and pointed iconographic and decorative references to classical antiquity. Pope Leo X strictly guided the commissions of a High Renaissance artist and was known to be one of the artist’s biggest patrons at the time. The artist delivered his most humanistic representation of The Madonna, as the incarnation of a realistic mother and child, portrayed subtly and naturalistically, including the drapery, her anatomy, and the movement of her body, as if it was a result of an immediate action. The Madonna is dressed in the Italian clothing of the time and the painting showcases the artist’s use of the tondo form, or the form of the circular or the rotondo.

The Madonna’s image also shows less attention to careful selections, which takes the focus off refinement, and shifts it to more of a rapid representation of an observation or attitude. By radically changing the scale of the figures in this painting, this particular Madonna revolutionized singular portrait painting by enlarging the figure’s scale and how they compositionally occupy the entire plane. La Madonna della Sedia is one of the single most important of the High Italian Renaissance artist – Raphael, housed at the Palazzo Pitti Collection in Florence, Italy.​

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