History
One of the artist's last Madonnas, the painting was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1512 in honor of his late uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, as an altarpiece for the Benedictine basilica of the Monastery of San Sisto in Piacenza, a church with which the Rovere family had a long-standing relationship. It was their requirement that the image contain both Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara. Legend has it that when Antonio da Correggio first laid eyes on the piece, he was inspired to cry, "And I also, I am a painter!"
Read more about this topic: Sistine Madonna
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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“A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)