Madonna and Child (Perugino)

The Virgin holds the Christ Child against a hazy blue valley, her head tilted in calm devotion, the star of Mary stitched at her shoulder. This is Perugino at his most distilled - the oval face, the lowered eyes, the weightless serenity, the soft Umbrian distance melting into air. He ran one of Italy's busiest workshops, and that sweetness carried far: his pupil Raphael, three of whose works appear elsewhere in this collection, absorbed exactly this poise before surpassing it. The manner that would underlie the High Renaissance is already here, fully formed, in a small panel meant for private prayer.