This depiction of the Madonna and Child with Saint Elizabeth and the Young Baptist, the so-called "Madonna della Gatta" (Madonna of the Cat), is a repetition of the celebrated picture by Giulio Romano in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.  Its stunning state of preservation and incredible detail throughout attests to the superior quality of Romano?s design, which has been somewhat compromised due to damage of the Naples panel.  Scholars have dated this version to the late 16^th or 17^th Centuries, a൩nd its reappearance allows a better reassessment of one of the artist?s fundamental works.

The Madonna della Gatta exemplifies the urbane and measured approach of the final phase of the High Renaissance, and most particularly reflects the influence of the late work of Raphael, who had been Romano?s master.  The Naples picture, in fact, has often in the past been attributed to Raphael himself.  It is clearly related to the Madonna of the Pearl (Prado, Madrid), which is generally given to Raphael, but with assistance, almost certainly that of Romano.  The figural composition of that picture is nearly identical, but taken from a slightly different angle, more frontally; the Madonna della Gatta seems to be the same ?snapshot? but from a few degrees further to the right.  The background of the picture, with its open door to the right leading into another room and the elaborate bed stead on the left, also appears with variations in another picture of Giulio Romano, the Madonna Hertz in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome. 

The Naples painting was famous as soon as it was painted and?whether its attribution was to Raphael or to Giulio Romano?it was highly sought after. It appears to have been commissioned from the artist by Federico Gonzaga, his great patron, and it is mentioned by Varsari in the Gonzaga collection in the middle of the century.  It is recorded in the collection of the Farnese in Parma in 1612, and remained in the family, either in their palaces in Rome or Parma, until it was transferred with the rest of the Farnese collection in the 18^th Century to Naples after the marriage of Elisabetta Farnese to Phillip V of Spain.  During the 17^th century the painting was in either in the Palazzi Giardino or della Pilotta in Parma, or in the Palazzo Farn♐ese in Rome, and thus would have available to a number of artists to copy.  The quality of the execution of the present picture and the manner in which it was painted all suggest a superior hand, using much the same🎃 technique as Giulio Romano himself.