The Madonna and Child, with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

The composition derives from a type popularised by Guido Reni in a composition of 1627. Reni's composition is lost, but is recorded in engraved form by Guillaume Vallet as well as in later works, for example those by Sassoferrato in the Gallerie Estense, Modena, and sold in Christie's, London, 3 November 2000, lot 71 (£47,000). Reni's inspiration was no doubt drawn from Raphael, who employed the motif of the Virgin lifting a cloth from over the Christ Child in the Madonna of the Diadem (Paris, Louvre) and, more particularly for the examples here discussed, the Madonna di Loreto (Chantilly, Musée Condé).