The Alba Madonna

Italian painter Raphael painted this circular composition (tondo) around 1510 during his time in Rome. The Virgin Mary sits in a landscape with the infant Jesus and young John the Baptist, who offers a reed cross that foreshadows Christ's crucifixion.

The composition demonstrates Raphael's mastery of the High Renaissance style. The figures form a stable pyramid, a device Raphael learned from studying Leonardo's works. The landscape stretches into an atmospheric blue distance.

The painting takes its name from the Spanish Dukes of Alba, who owned it for centuries. It eventually passed through several major collections before arriving at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.