This is a nineteenth century copy after the cherubim who appear at the foot of Raphael’s famous ‘Sistine Madonna’ altarpiece. Since the nineteenth century, the cherubim have been famous in their own right and have been copied numerous times. There are several stories relating to the painting of the cherubs. According to a 1912 article in Fra Magazine, when Raphael was painting the Madonna, his model’s children would come to watch, struck by their posture, legend says that Raphael added them to the painting exactly as he saw them. Another story, which was recounted in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1912 tells how Raphael was inspired by two children he encountered on the street, who were peering ‘wistfully’ into the window of a baker's shop.