Remaking Matrimony: Raphael and Perugino’s Innovative Portrayals of the Marriage of the Virgin

At the turn of the fifteenth century, both Raphael and Perugino painted magnificent altarpieces depicting the Marriage of the Virgin. The paintings seem to be the first to use the Marriage of the Virgin as the subject of an altarpiece, rather than as a subsidiary scene in a fresco or on a predella. This also appears to be the first occasion on which this marriage was represented as part of devotion to St. Joseph, rather than to his wife. These developments were prompted by a number of factors including growing cult attention to St. Joseph and the specific requirements of a reliquary chapel in Perugia.