<body><![CDATA[Negotiating the loans for this exhibition has taken years, and some proved very difficult to secure. The National Gallery is especially pleased to be able to include this early Madonna, done when Raphael was 20 or so. It is also in its original frame, encrusted with gilded ornament that the artist himself designed. (Before the painting was transferred from wood panel to canvas, the frame and the painting were in a single piece.) Work by Raphael this early is rare. It dates from 1503-4, when he was based in Perugia and working not only for churches but also the local aristocracy. It was probably made for a patrician, and the painting remained in Perugia until 1871, when it was bought by Tsar Alexander II as a present for his wife, Maria Alexandrovna. She bequeathed it to the Hermitage in St Petersburg. By the way, the name usually given to this picture comes from that of its previous owner, one Count Conestabile. The style is not (quite) characteristic of the mature Raphael, though its colour harmonies, especially the clear, bright blue, and the landscape background do look forward to his later work.]]></body>
