The Leeswood Tondo - Summary (Continued)
There is a more direct claim to the identification of the Virgin. The word Felice, on the reverse flap of the Tondo, may refer to the identity of the Madonna, and it has been suggested that this may be Felice delta Rovere, daughter of Pope Julius II. It has further been suggested that the Sistine Madonna was intended as the funerary back-drop to the Pope's coffin, with Julius as St.Sixtus, Eleonora della Rovere as St.Barbara and Felice's son as the Child. If this were the case, then the Tondo might have been the studio exemplar for the Virgin and Child in the larger picture.
After the funeral in 1513, the Sistine Madonna would have passed to the Church of San Sisto in Piacenza, and the Tondo might have been acquired by one of the inner circle of the Papal court : either Felice, Castiglione, or Cardinal Bibbiena. Castiglione's own portrait by Raphael probably passed to the collection of the Duke of Urbino, and was bought by Van Uffelin at the Urbino Sale. If the Sistine Madonna is a della Rovere family group, then it is not unlikely that the Tondo also passed from the Castigliones, or from the della Roveres, to the court at Urbino, and from thence on to the open European market.
If, however, the Tondo passed to the Duke of Mantua, either through the Castiglione / Gonzaga family connection, or through Giulio Romano, then it might have been transported to London when Charles I purchased the Mantua collection.
Because of the anti-Catholic feeling in London, an image of the Madonna is likely to have been hung in Somerset House, either in Henrietta Maria's private apartments or in her chapel. For one financial reason or another. Sir Richard Wynn would have been in the position to acquire a valuable painting from the Queen.
Excerpt from Dr Murdoch Lothian's PhD thesis 'The Methods Employed to Provenance and to Attribute Putative works by Raphael'