Madonna Terranuova by Rafael - Gemäldegalerie - Berlin - Germany 2017 (4)

This circular painting, known as a tondo, depicts the Madonna in a red robe and blue mantle holding a reclining Christ Child. On the left, the infant John the Baptist holds a cross and a scroll, while a third child figure observes from the right against a background of rolling hills and a distant town. The figures are arranged in a harmonious, triangular composition characteristic of the High Renaissance style.

The use of the tondo (circular) format reflects the Neoplatonic ideal of the circle as a symbol of divine perfection and the unity of the cosmos, a concept central to the intellectual life of Florence where Raphael painted this. This work exemplifies the High Renaissance belief that the pursuit of idealized physical beauty serves as a medium for contemplating spiritual and mathematical order.