Circle of Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael

Panel is uncradled and appears to be made of one piece of wood. impastos are well preserved and detail throughout is very good, and coloration is strong. due to shrinkage of the wood panel, there is some instability in the paint surface and some areas of lifting along the vertical wood grain. this is more evident on the right half of the picture. examination under ultraviolet light reveals retouching along many of these vertical areas including on face and body of Christ Child, face of St. John, and in sky. Virgin has a small retouch on her cheek, an area on her neck and a few on her costume. it would be recommendable to have these unstable areas attended to by a professional restorer.
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This painting follows the design of Raphael's 'Madonna della Tenda' (or 'Madonna of the Curtain'); a work of 1514 in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich (see J. Meyer zur Capellen, Raphael: A Critical Catalogue of His Paintings: The Roman Religious Paintings. Ca. 1508-1520, Münster, 2005, vol. II, p. 135, cat. no. 56). The composition is also reminiscent of Raphael's 'Madonna della Sedia', dating from around the same time, in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence. The present painting would appear to date from the 16th century and without any further elements relating to its provenance it cannot be firmly identified with any of the copies listed by Meyer zur Capellen (op. cit., under cat. no. 56).

An interesting component of this work is the under drawing revealed through infrared reflectography (fig.1). This preliminary drawing shows evidence of tracing, and even possible pouncing, which has been gone over with graphite and a brush. Either of these techniques suggest that the author of this work had direct contact with either Raphael's painting, or even possibly to his original cartoon. Such access to an early conception of Raphael's original would naturally indicate that this picture was executed by an artist in Raphael's immediate circle.