Madonna of the Well or Madonna and Child with the young St. John the Baptist

Franciabigio, a Florentine painter who worked alongside Andrea del Sarto, created this Madonna of the Well around 1517. As del Sarto's closest collaborator, Franciabigio contributed to the development of the Florentine High Renaissance style, producing accomplished altarpieces, frescoes, and portraits that balanced classical harmony with natural observation. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

The composition demonstrates Franciabigio's mastery of the pyramidal Madonna composition popularized by Raphael, with smooth tonal modeling and the warm Florentine palette of his mature period.