It is more complex than a similar painting the Small Cowper Madonna of a few years earlier.
Raphael may have derived the talent for creating a natural intimacy through Leonardo da Vinci.
[2] The compelling, playful Child reaches for the Madonna's top as if wanting to nurse.
[3] Cowper's art collection absorbed a great deal of his time and money.
Tribuna of the Uffizi shows Cowper looking at the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna painting as it is offered by Johann Zoffany.