The painting shows the influence of Raphael and Correggio, both of whom Batoni admired enormously. Correggio's sensuality and sentimental religiosity obviously struck a chord with Batoni, and for many artists working in Rome in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Raphael embodied artistic perfection: as a young man Batoni drew almost daily at the Vatican Stanze and the Villa Farnesina.
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