Explore the Attribution to Raphael about the Provenance of this artwork.
Only in 1991 was the painting identified as a genuine Raphael, by the Renaissance scholar Nicholas Penny. Although Raphael scholars were aware of the existence of the work, which had hung in Alnwick Castle since 1853, they considered it merely the best of several copies of a lost original. After a major public appeal the Madonna of the Pinks was bought in 2004 by the National Gallery from the Duke of Northumberland for £34.88 million, with contributions from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Art Collections Fund. To justify the expenditure it went on a nationwide tour to Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Barnard Castle.
An early critic of the attribution of the National Gallery's painting Madonna of the Pinks to Raphael was James Beck, who set out his arguments in a series of articles published in the popular press, in various scholarly journals, and more extensively in a posthumous publication From Duccio to Raphael: Connoisseurship in Crisis (2007).  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.
Raphael James Beck National Art Collections Fund Renaissance Manchester Brian Sewell Alnwick Castle Barnard Castle Duke of Northumberland Edinburgh Heritage Lottery Fund National Gallery Cardiff Nicholas Penny