The Alba Madonna

Raphael painted this in Rome, at the same time he was working on the frescoes in the papal apartments in the Vatican. Everything about the design shows his gift for balance. The three figures form a stable pyramid that fits the round format, and Mary's outstretched leg and the sweep of her blue mantle carry your eye around the curve of the frame. Her pose, seated directly on the ground, comes from the tradition of the Madonna of Humility, but her strong body and classical drapery owe as much to ancient sculpture and to Michelangelo, whose Sistine ceiling was going up at the time. Notice the subtle colouring of the landscape, which shifts from green to a hazy blue with distance.

The painting takes its name from the Spanish dukes of Alba, who owned it in the eighteenth century. In 1836 it was bought by Tsar Nicholas the First for the Imperial Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, where it was one of the most admired works. A century later the Soviet government quietly sold it, along with other masterpieces, to raise foreign currency, and Andrew Mellon acquired it in 1931 for a record price. It came to Washington with his founding gift. Look at the small flowers in the grass: Raphael painted anemones and violets, both traditional symbols of sorrow and of the Passion.

Did You Know? When Andrew Mellon bought the painting from the Soviet government in 1931 it was reported as the most expensive painting ever sold.