The Leeswood Tondo - Summary (Continued)
The logical conclusion from this is that The Tondo pre-dates The Sistine Madonna. It is not possible to state definitively who painted The Tondo, whether Raphael, or a member of his studio, or some other unrecognised hand. However it seems likely, on the evidence of the painting as artefact, that The Tondo and The Sistine Hadonna were painted by the same person(s), and that The Tondo was the exemplar.
There is no hard evidence to identify the painting as part of the Caroline collection, and to assess the role of Sir Richard Wynn as being the agency who introduced the painting into North Wales and ultimately the collection of Mrs.Wynne-Eyton.
At this point in the investigation, it is only sensible to endorse John Shearman's statement :
"It is clear that the case for this identification fails the ultimate test for the lack of that kind of evidence that could only be provided by an inscription, a document, or some chance discovery in an inventory."587
Excerpt from Dr Murdoch Lothian's PhD thesis 'The Methods Employed to Provenance and to Attribute Putative works by Raphael'