An amateur art historian may have found a rare Raphael print in a rural Virginia church

ARTNET NEWS
By Henri Neuendorf

Raphael's Madonna di San Sisto (1513–14). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

RICHMOND, VA----A local art enthusiast may have identified a rare print by Renaissance master Raphael hanging in a small, rural church outside of Richmond, Virginia. The artwork, which could be a significant and valuable copy of a famous painting by the Italian artist, apparently went unnoticed by church staff for decades. In November 2015, Italian expat Federico Colagrande, a Renaissance art fan, attended a funeral at Gilboa Church, a quaint brick building in Louisa County that dates back to 1849. After mourners left, Colagrande and his girlfriend Annette Bronson stayed behind to explore the church, a pastime the couple called “extreme churching” in a report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. [More]