MADONNA DEI PALAFRENIERI BY CARAVAGGIO

The work entitled Madonna and Child with St. Anne, or Madonna dei Palafrenieri in Italian earned this name because it was painted in 1605 for the Palafrenieri Chapel in Saint Peter's Basilica. This was one of Caravaggio's so-called "scandalous" works, in the sense that it was rejected by those who had commissioned it; it was only displayed for a month over the altar before being sold to Cardinal Borghese. And why did they reject it? For its lack of decorum: the Virgin is represented as a normal girl, while St. Anne is shown as an old wrinkled lady... even the child's nakedness seemed inappropriate!