This painting of the Child Jesus with Mary and John the Baptist is after Raphael's 'La belle jardinière'. The artist was Giuseppe or Joseph Devers who was born in Turin in the early nineteenth century where he trained as a painter and sculptor. He moved to Paris as a young man to further his training and establish his own pottery. Upon his return to Turin, he became Professor of Ceramics at the Accademia Albertina where he designed both decorative wares and architectural ceramics for small churches. Throughout his career his classical training underpinned his designs and he was much influenced by the faience of the fifteenth-century Della Robbia family of Florence. He was especially attracted to the rich background colours of blue or gold and frequently used motifs associated with Italian or French Renaissance ornament.