In the art of the Italian Renaissance, the subject of the Madonna with Child was chosen for pictures more frequently than any other. Raphael's paintings are regarded as some of the most innovative compositions to this day, 500 years after his death. Their groundbreaking significance is illuminated in this volume through comparisons with other principal works of the period, including those by Botticelli and Mantegna.

Raphael's Sixtine Madonna is one of the most famous paintings in art history. The book traces how the artist arrived at this pioneering composition as well as the theological statement behind the picture and the original solutions that he found in his early Madonna paintings. Comparisons with Raphael's contemporaries in Bologna, Florence, Mantua and Venice show clearly the preferred picture types of the era as well as Raphael's highly individual pictorial language.