Madonna and Child with Two Angels

In Florence, round panels of the Madonna were usually made for private homes, a format popular there since the late 1400s. That older habit is one reason the Galleria Borghese places this tondo early in Domenico Puligo's career, between about 1512 and 1515. The Virgin faces straight out, holding the Child, who raises a hand in blessing. Of the two angels, the one on the left looks at us, while the other turns towards Mary with a book in his hand. Look at the rim. Mary's halo and the angels, the right one especially, run into the edge, probably because the panel was cut down at some point. The Borghese inventory of 1693 lists it as Andrea del Sarto's. Since 1893 most scholars have given it to Puligo, though in 1990 the art historian Patrizia La Porta proposed Andrea's brother, Francesco d'Agnolo, known as Lo Spillo, who left very few documented works.