Terranuova Madonna

A circular tondo painting featuring the Madonna in a red robe and dark mantle seated in a serene landscape. She cradles the Christ child, who reaches toward a scroll held by a young John the Baptist on the left, while a third infant figure watches from the right. The background transitions from a fortified city on the left to craggy rock formations on the right under a soft, hazy sky.

Painted during Raphael's move to Florence, this work demonstrates the influence of Leonardo da Vinci's compositional geometry and the Neoplatonic pursuit of 'divina proporzione' (divine proportion). The tondo format itself was significant in Renaissance thought as a representation of the cosmic sphere and the perfection of the heavens.