Madonna von der Ropp

Raphael was about 17 when he painted this small Madonna, around 1500, still in Umbria in central Italy and still under the shadow of his teacher Perugino. It is an early, careful thing. The Virgin with the blessing Christ Child is flanked by Saint Jerome and Saint Francis, packed so tightly into the little panel that there is almost no sense of depth, and the crowding is unusual for him. The confident, spacious Raphael of the Vatican frescoes was years away. What he shows here instead is patience with the surface: gold flecks of embroidery on the Virgin's robe and cushion, delicate haloes, and a single star pricked out at her shoulder.