Sistine Madonna, also called
La Madonna di San Sisto, is an
oil painting by the Italian artist
Raphael. Finished a few years before his death, ca. 1513–1514, as a commissioned
altarpiece, it was the last of the painter's
Madonnas and the last painting he completed with his own hands. Relocated to
Dresden from 1754, the well-known painting has been particularly influential in Germany. After
World War II, it was relocated to
Moscow for a decade before it was returned to Germany. There, it resides as one of the central pieces in the
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. The painting has been highly praised by many notable critics, and
Giorgio Vasari called it a "a truly rare and extraordinary work"