Although there is documentation on its arrival to its current location, Palazzo Pitti, it is still unknown who commissioned the painting; however, it has been in the Medici family since the 16th century.

[1] It depicts Mary embracing the Christ child while sitting in a chair as the young John the Baptist devoutly watches.

[3] Painted during his Roman period, this Madonna does not have the strict geometrical form and linear style of his earlier Florentine treatments of the same subject.

The Madonna is portrayed subtly and naturalistically, including the drapery, her anatomy, and the movement of her body, as if it was a result of an immediate action.

[5] Mary is depicted wearing a striped headdress, which falls behind her backside and compliments her richly colored ornamental dress with fringe.

[6] The Madonna's image also shows less attention to careful selections, which takes the focus off refinement, and shifts it to more of a rapid representation of an observation or attitude.

Unfortunately, the Madonna della Sedia's commission is undocumented despite it being created while Raphael was spending a relatively well-documented period of twelve years in Rome.

Leo X was also the successor to Pope Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere) who was another major patron of Raphael and a central contributor to the High Renaissance.

[1] The chair's finial in the Madonna della Sedia is evidence that supports the idea that the painting could have been commissioned for Pope Leo X.

The finial takes on the form of a round ball, similar to the Medici's heraldic symbol, the palle, which is also seen in Leo's coat of arms.

[2] The composition is entirely from Raphael's hand, which was a result of him shuddering off the legacies of Leonardo da Vinci and Pietro Perugino, who early on had influenced his career and style substantially.

That young man was Raphael Sanzio who immediately said he would like to paint her as she sat there with her two sons, later represented as the original Virgin, Christ child, and St.