Big Country split last year, and Adamson went on to form another group, the Raphaels.

BBC: Adamson: Scotland's guitar hero

Nonetheless, the National Gallery managed to persuade the usually intractable Galleria Borghese in Rome to part with two trademark works in return for lending them its Raphaels for a future show.

ECONOMIST: Caravaggio

There are no sketches or documents relating to the Sistine Madonna's composition, but the museum fills this gap by exhibiting several other Raphaels, including the famous portrait (on loan from the Uffizi) of a melancholy Julius II slumped in his red throne and a portrait of the noblewomen Donna Velata, whose noble features may have inspired Raphael's depiction of Mary in the Sistine Madonna.

WSJ: The Sistine Madonna | Old Masters Picture Gallery | The Madonna Above the Cherubs | By A.J. Goldmann