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About This Work
The Virgin is seated centrally, holding the Christ Child who grasps a scroll held by the young Saint John. The figures are arranged in a balanced composition within a circular frame, set against a distant landscape of hills and a fortified town. The work displays the soft modeling and atmospheric perspective characteristic of the artist's Florentine period.
The tondo format was favored in Renaissance Florence as a symbol of the cosmos and divine perfection, aligning with Neoplatonic thought regarding the circle as the most perfect shape. This work marks Raphael's synthesis of Leonardo da Vinci's compositional harmony with the philosophical interests of the Florentine elite.