This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Holy Families & Madonna and Child

Holy Families & Madonna and Child

Studies for a Virgin and Child with the Infant Baptist

c.1853-76

Albumen print | RCIN 850710

A photograph of a compositional study by Raphael (c.1505) now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no. WA1846.161).

The drawing corresponds largely to Raphael’s so-called ‘Madonna of the Meadow’ (1505-1506), a painting now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no.GG175), for which it is in fact considered to be a preparatory study. See RCIN 850706 for a print reproducing the painting.

Showing the full length seated Virgin supporting with both hands the standing Christ Child who grasps the cross-staff held by the Infant Baptist, who kneels down before Him. In the top left corner is a separate red chalk study of the Virgin holding the Child’s shoulder.
  • Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-76)