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The restoration removed centuries of brown film and restored the painting's original colors.

The process was particularly difficult because the work, an oil on panel, had shattered into 17 pieces when the home of the original owner collapsed in 1547. Raphael had died in 1520, but his contemporary, the painter Ridolfo di Ghirlandaio, nailed together the pieces and painted over the fractures. When the work later entered the collection of the Medici family, they commissioned a series of painters to hide the cracks. The latest restoration has removed all the paint not applied by Raphael.