The Alba Madonna

In the pictureWithin the round picture, the Virgin sits on the grass, leaning to the left. She wears a blue mantle over a pink dress, with a green cloth wound around her head. One hand holds a book with a finger tucked inside it, and her elbow rests on a tree stump at the right. The blond Christ Child, leaning against her knee, grasps a slender cross held out by the young John the Baptist, who kneels at the left, and the gazes of all three figures converge on that cross. John wears an animal skin. Behind them stretch a lake with buildings on either side and blue mountains, and small wildflowers are scattered over the grass in front.

BackgroundRaphael painted it in Rome around 1510, and the round panel format derives from the round trays given in Florence to women who had given birth. The Christ Child taking the cross is read as a scene of him accepting the Passion to come. The title comes from the family of the Spanish Dukes of Alba, who owned the painting for a long time. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia bought it in 1836 and it was in the Hermitage until 1931, when Andrew Mellon bought it during the Soviet government's sale of artworks. It was originally painted on a wooden panel and later transferred to canvas.

Puzzle tipBecause the painting is circular, the four corners are pieces with nothing but a white ground. Assembling the corners and the rim of the circle first lets the curve set the frame. Next comes the Virgin's blue mantle and pink dress, which take up much of the center. The sky in the upper half is a wide stretch of similar blue, so use the white clouds at the upper left, the mountain ridges, and the buildings at either end as reference points. The meadow at the bottom is a broad yellow-green and confusing, but find positions by the Virgin's sandal and the shapes of the scattered tufts of grass. 100 pieces is recommended.