Mary sits in a spring landscape with a book, while the infant John the Baptist offers a goldfinch to the Christ Child, who reaches to stroke it. The three figures form a calm pyramid learned from Leonardo. Raphael painted it in Florence as a wedding gift for his friend Lorenzo Nasi; in 1548 a landslide shattered it into seventeen pieces.
Look closer
The goldfinch, which feeds among thistles, was a traditional sign of Christ's Passion. Mary holds a small open book in her left hand.
Looks like this
Compared by a vision model
