After Raphael, 19th century
Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist
Oil on canvas

Unsigned. 18 x 12 ¾ inches (46 x 32 cm), the frame 23 ¾ x 18 ½ inches (60 x 47 cm). Gilt frame with applied floral corners. Relined, with small paint losses at the lower right.

The Virgin is not looking at the Child who is looking at her. Her eyes have dropped below his face, and the whole group turns on that half inch.

She sits on a low rock in an open landscape, her blue mantle falling over a red bodice and gold sleeves, a white veil bound across her hair. The Child stands at her knee and reaches for her hand, and the young Saint John kneels at the right, half wrapped in a skin, holding his reed cross. Behind them lie a lake, a line of blue mountains and a small pink town on the far bank. The three faces are worked smooth to a finish, while the grass and the rock are laid in broadly, with a few plants at the foot drawn leaf by leaf.