RAPHAEL'S Madonna and Child, the tiny Renaissance painting more commonly known as the Madonna of the Pinks, goes on show at the Bowes Museum this month.

It comes to the Bowes courtesy of the National Gallery, which is celebrating the purchase with a national tour. It will be displayed alongside two other old masters from the gallery, Ghirlando's Virgin and Child and Titian's The Virgin and Child.

The picture was originally owned by the Duke of Northumberland. The National Gallery acquired the 29 x 23cms masterpiece in a £22m deal last year which exempted the duke from paying tax on its sale. An export ban had previously prevented it being sold to the J Paul Getty Trust in California. The visit is part of the National Gallery's commitment to ensuring that the painting is seen by as many people as possible, as half the purchase price was raised through public donations.

The exhibition at the Bowes will explore the artistic development between Mother and Child paintings during the Italian Renaissance and show achievements in emphasising humanity and tenderness.

The Madonna of the Pinks is in oils on a fruitwood panel, depicting a youthful Virgin Mary playing with her infant son. They pass a stem of pinks - symbol of marriage - between them, alluding to Mary as not only the mother of Christ, but as the bride of Christ.

The work is so tiny because it was a devotional piece, painted to be held in the hand for Christian contemplation, probably painted around 1506-07, when Raphael was most influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, whose works he encountered in Florence. The composition is based on Leonardo's Benois Madonna, painted about 30 years earlier.

The original owner or patron is unknown, though a 19th century tradition records that it was painted for Maddalena degli Oddi, a wealthy Perugian widow, for whose family chapel Raphael had painted an altarpiece.

Emma House, assistant keeper of fine art at the Bowes, said: "The exhibition offers those living in the North a wonderful opportunity to see the Madonna of the Pinks as it returns to the region once more, following its sale from Alnwick Castle."

It will be on display from Saturday, April 16, until Sunday, June 26 (11am-5pm). For more information, call 01833 690606 for a free programme or visit the web site at www.bowesmuseum.org.uk.