in 1928 jules bache acquired the portrait of giuliano de medici. a broker himself, bache would have identified with that great family of renaissance bankers. other collectors bought works which were by or believed to be by raphael, including the portrait of a young man, now in the hyde collection at glens falls, new york. but by any count, the most successful of all these american collectors of raphael was andrew mellon. a leading force in banking and industry, mellon went on to become secretary of the treasury and later ambassador to england. he also had a second career as a collector. mellon acquired his first raphael in 1928: the large cowper madonna. at that time, the idea was beginning to take shape in mellon's mind for a national gallery, one which would rival the great european galleries. clearly, such a collection had to include raphael. in 1930 mellon was presented with an extraordinary opportunity. the soviet government agreed to sell two of their best raphaels. one was the alba madonna, for which mellon offered the highest price ever pai