The composition is based closely on the Benois Madonna by Leonardo da Vinci, although the colour scheme of blues and greens that link the Virgin with the landscape is Raphael's own.

Through the arched window, we see a mountaintop with a ruin, possibly alluding to the Fortezza Albornoz to the west of the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino which was reduced by French soldiers in 1789.

[2] In the 19th century it was property of the painter Vincenzo Camuccini, supposedly bought by his brother, the infamous art dealer and serial forger Pietro under highly dubious circumstances.

Brian Sewell notably criticised the painting for being of low quality and possibly forged, pointing out how the Madonna's right leg seems disconnected from her body.

[6] The sky and the blue drapery of the Virgin are painted in natural ultramarine and azurite; the artist further employed lead-tin yellow, malachite and verdigris.