Raphael is considered to be a “master” of the High Renaissance, a title he shares with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

All three share several characteristics: Madonna is clothed in red and blue, the same three subjects are painted, the pyramidal composition, the natural background, and the connection to the church through the representation of books, crosses, or, indeed, the goldfinch.

[4] In this painting, as in most of the Madonnas of his Florentine period, Raphael arranged the three figures - Mary, Christ and the young John the Baptist - to fit into a geometrical design.

In 2002, George Bonsanti of the Precious Stones organization gave the task of restoration to Patrizia Riitano.

During the six-year process that followed, her team worked to remove the years of grime that had degraded the painting's color, and to fix the damage done by the landslide long ago.

Before beginning the project, they studied the work as closely as possible, utilizing resources such as X-rays, CAT scans, reflective infra-red photography, and lasers.

Riitano closely studied the past quick fix layers that had been applied and removed them until the original by Raphael finally shone through.