Madonna of the Candelabra [SEP] collection
Madonna of the Candelabra
The Madonna of the Candelabra is a Madonna painting by the Italian renaissance artist Raphael, dating to about 1513 and is in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. 
Painted during his Roman period, this tondo Madonna of the Virgin and Child employs a rare motif of flanking candelabra that was derived from representations of ancient Roman emperors. Through this reference to the rulers of antiquity, Raphael alludes to Christ's and Mary's roles as the king and queen of Heaven. Raphael was famed for
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Henry Walters envisaged a museum that would fulfill an educational role within the community, but initially made modest additions to his father's collection. In 1897 his purchase of a 15th-century Koran, originally thought to be Persian, but now regarded as Indian, may have initiated the manuscript collection.
In 1900 Walters bought Raphael's "Madonna of the Candelabra", which had passed through both the Borghese and Bonaparte family collections. The USPS featured this painting on their 2011 Christmas stamp.
In 1902 he undertook