The de Brécy Tondo—A History Prior to Its Purchase in 1981 and Afterwards

The tondo painting known hereafter as the de Brécy Tondo came onto the market in 1981 with an “After Raphael” category and the resultant implication as being a “Victorian copy”. Since that time, forty years of research into the Renaissance and later history and comprehensive scientific analysis into the pigments and subsurface detail have established that it is an original Renaissance painting dating from the second decade of the sixteenth century and its similarity to the analogous portion of Raphael’s Sistine MadonnaSistine Madonna indicated that it was probably painted as a study about a year earlier, in 1512/13. This chapter traces the historical events of those turbulent times, such as the Sack of RomeSack of Rome in 1527, wherein Raphael’s studio and workshop was completely destroyed, and the survival of the Tondo. It was found that it very likely comprised part of the gift from Pope Urban VIIIPope Urban VIII in 1636 to Queen Henrietta MariaQueen Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, wife of the ill-fated King Charles IKing Charles I of England, to encourage the maintenance of her Catholic faith and ideals in a hostile Protestant country. The painting bears her personal mark on the reverse of the canvas. Its history after the English Civil War, which concluded in 1646, is taken up by the Wynns of GwydirWynns of Gwydir as Sir Richard WynnSir Richard Wynn was the Queen’s art adviser and counsellor. The last of the line, Mrs Violet Hope Wynn-Eyton, died in 1981 and the painting was acquired at the contents sale of Leeswood Hall.