Raphael works coming to the Norton Simon Museum

The Norton Simon Museum Presents
Raphael's The Small Cowper Madonna
On Loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington
November 5, 2010-January 24, 2011

The Norton Simon Museum is pleased to announce the rare loan of Raphael's The Small Cowper Madonna, c. 1505, from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. One of about 12 works by Raphael in U.S. collections, this painting of the Madonna and Child was executed early in the artist's career, during the four years he spent in Florence (1504-08).

This extraordinary loan is part of an exchange program between the National Gallery of Art and the Norton Simon foundations, which also brought Vermeer's A Lady Writing to the Simon in the fall of 2008.

The Small Cowper Madonna is one of five works by Raphael in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, and its presentation at the Simon marks the first time it has been lent to another U.S. museum.

www.nortonsimon.org