blue background. The emblems were the Papal crossed keys, the Papal tiara, and perhaps the heraldic oak tree of Julius's family, the Della Rovere ("Of the oak"). This was overpainted by Raphael with the green cloth now seen, which itself was painted over before 1824 to give a plain dark background. The finials of the chair are also formed as acorns to represent the Della Rovere emblem. The six finger rings with large jewels reflect another of Julius's obsessions, which caused Michelangelo to walk out from his service to him. According to the 1901 catalogue of the National Gallery, "This portrait was repeated several times by Raphael, or his scholars. Passavant enumerates nine repetitions...besides three of the head only." There is a possible cartoon for the London version in Palazzo Corsini, Florence, and a red chalk drawing at Chatsworth House. Provenance The provenances of the various versions of this painting are constructed based on documents, analysis of the paintings and preliminary sketches. For over two centuries the prime version of the painting remained together with the Madonna of Loreto, first at Santa Maria del Popolo until 1591, then in private collections; then for a time in the early 19th century its location was unknown. Until 1970 it was commonly believed that the London version of the painting was a studio copy of a Raphael original, which was believed to be the version in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. In 1969 Konrad Oberhuber of the National Gallery of Art in Washington asked the National Gallery to take x-ray photographs of their version. These revealed that the background of the painting behind the chair had been entirely repainted, concealing an inventory number from the Borghese collection and the green textile hanging now visible after the overpaint was removed in 1970. Small paint samples removed during this cleaning showed that there had been an even earlier hanging with a coloured pattern. The National Gallery's Cecil Gould published the results of the research in 1970, asserting that Raphael's original had been rediscovered, an attribution that is now generally accepted. However, the attribution was challenged in 1996 by James Beck in an article in Artibus et Historiae. Santa Maria del Popolo Julius II commissioned from Raphael this painting and Madonna of Loreto which resided at Santa Maria del Popolo, at the entrance gate to Rome. Upon the portrait's completion, it was exhibited in the church for