Ansidei Madonna [SEP] collection
Baptist Preaching, the others are inexplicably lost.
Both the main painting, ""Ansidei Madonna"", and the predella ""Saint John the Baptist Preaching"", are located at the National Gallery in London.
The painting.
The Virgin sits formally on a high throne, with an adult Saint John the Baptist on the left, and Saint Nicholas of Bari to the right. Painted for effect rather than realism, the throne has no arms and the steps are very steep, but beautifully set
by Raphael. The work was bought by young Lord Robert Spenser in 1764, for an undisclosed, but apparently large sum of money as a gift to his brother, the 4th Duke of Marlborough. Placed in Blenheim Palace, one of the most magnificent buildings in Europe and home of the Duke of Marlborough, the work was sometimes known as the ""Blenheim Madonna.""
""Ansidei Madonna"", considered "one of the most perfect pictures of the world", of the Blenheim Collection was sold