Why it matters
Mary and the Christ Child read a book together before a gentle landscape of hills and snowy mountains. This small tondo is one of Raphael's earliest Madonnas, probably painted around 1504.
Did you know?
- It was transferred from wood to canvas in 1871.
- Raphael first sketched Mary holding an apple rather than a book.
- It still has an intricate square frame.
Based on the Wikipedia article Conestabile Madonna (CC BY-SA 4.0).
