A PRICELESS Renaissance masterpiece will return to the North-East next month.
Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, will exhibit Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks as it goes on a tour of the country.
The 29cm by 23cm painting was sold by the Duke of Northumberland to the National Gallery, in London, for £22m last year.
The work will be on show at the museum together with two other works from the National Gallery -Ghirlando's Virgin and Child and Titian's The Virgin and Child.
The exhibition explores the artistic development between mother and child paintings in the Italian Renaissance.
Emma Hughes, the assistant keeper of fine art at the museum, 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."
The painting will be at the museum from April 16 to June 26. The museum is open daily from 11am to 5pm.
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