Raphael - Raffaello Sanzio - Oil The Marriage of the Virgin, also known as Lo Sposalizio, is an oil painting by Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael. Completed in 1504 for a Franciscan church in Città di Castello, the painting depicts a marriage ceremony between Mary and Joseph. It changed hands several times before settling in 1806 at the Pinacoteca di Brera. On the popular theme of the "marriage of the Virgin",[1] the painting depicts a marriage ceremony between Mary and Joseph. The story depicted is not Biblical, but relates to a legend which posits that so many people wanted to wed Mary that the High Priest ordained a test to see who would find favor for her hand. Every eligible man in the Davidic line was given a dry rod to place on the altar. Joseph's rod was the only one to flower. Mary and Joseph each have five attendants. Joseph's attendants are failed suitors for the bride, one of whom is in the act of snapping his rod, which had failed to blossom. Around the cupola are other people, primarily grouped in conversation. The high priest at the center picture is joining together the hands of the bride and groom. In his 1917 biography of the artist, Edward McCurdy noted that Raphael seemed to have, perhaps deliberately in placing distance between the figures, altered the proportions of the bodies of Joseph and Mary, as the arms they stretch towards one another appear unnaturally long. Above the central arch of the temple is the artist's signature and the year the painting was completed.