The Costliest Picture in the World

The Blenheim Madonna, painted by Raphael in 1507, and now valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, is considered the costliest picture in the world.

It belongs to the Duke of Marlborough, who has a large and very expensive collection of paintings, which has come down to him from the original Duke of Marlborough.

It has been proposed to the British Government, to purchase this celebrated Madonna, which was originally painted for the Church of the Servi at Perugia.

The picture is eight feet high, representing the Madonna and Child seated upon a throne, with a figure of St. John the Baptist on the left, and that of St. Nicolas of Bari on the right, the last two being apparently life-size.

Its high valuation arises from the fact of its being one of the best preserved specimens of Raphael's painting extant.

It is called the "Blenheim Madonna" from its being in Blenheim Palace, which is the residence of the Duke of Marlborough, and one of the most costly and magnificent buildings in Europe.

After the victory won by the English under the Duke of Marlborough, over the French, at Blenheim, Bavaria, in 1704, Queen Anne gave Marlborough a large tract of land near Oxford, called Woodstock, on which he erected the palace (called Blenheim in memory of the battle). It still belongs to his descendants; and every year the duke sends to Windsor Castle, as a kind of rent, a little flag worked with a French fleur-de-lis, which is hung up in one of the halls of the castle.