diff --git a/avatar/models.py b/avatar/models.py
index 02de5c9..2bc94ef 100644
--- a/avatar/models.py
+++ b/avatar/models.py
@@ -56,6 +56,25 @@ def find_extension(format):
         format = 'jpg'
 
     return format
+    
+def get_primary_avatar(user, size=80):
+    if not isinstance(user, User):
+        try:
+            user = User.objects.get(username=user)
+        except User.DoesNotExist:
+            return AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL
+    avatars = user.avatar_set.order_by('-date_uploaded')
+    primary = avatars.filter(primary=True)
+    if primary.count() > 0:
+        avatar = primary[0]
+    elif avatars.count() > 0:
+        avatar = avatars[0]
+    else:
+        avatar = None
+    if avatar:
+        if not avatar.thumbnail_exists(size):
+            avatar.create_thumbnail(size)
+    return avatar
 
 class Avatar(models.Model):
     user = models.ForeignKey(User)
diff --git a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
index 217c6bf..b0928be 100644
--- a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
+++ b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
@@ -4,28 +4,17 @@ from django import template
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
 from django.utils.hashcompat import md5_constructor
+from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
 
-from avatar import AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
+from avatar.models import get_primary_avatar
+from avatar import AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP
+from avatar import AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
 
 register = template.Library()
 
 def avatar_url(user, size=80):
-    if not isinstance(user, User):
-        try:
-            user = User.objects.get(username=user)
-        except User.DoesNotExist:
-            return AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL
-    avatars = user.avatar_set.order_by('-date_uploaded')
-    primary = avatars.filter(primary=True)
-    if primary.count() > 0:
-        avatar = primary[0]
-    elif avatars.count() > 0:
-        avatar = avatars[0]
-    else:
-        avatar = None
-    if avatar is not None:
-        if not avatar.thumbnail_exists(size):
-            avatar.create_thumbnail(size)
+    avatar = get_primary_avatar(user, size=size)
+    if avatar:
         return avatar.avatar_url(size)
     else:
         if AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP:
@@ -55,6 +44,19 @@ def avatar(user, size=80):
         size, size)
 register.simple_tag(avatar)
 
+def primary_avatar(user, size=80):
+    """
+    This tag tries to get the default avatar for a user without doing any db
+    requests. It achieve this by linking to a special view that will do all the 
+    work for us. If that special view is then cached by a CDN for instance,
+    we will avoid many db calls.
+    """
+    alt = unicode(user)
+    url = reverse('avatar_render_primary', kwargs={'user' : user, 'size' : size})
+    return """<img src="%s" alt="%s" width="%s" height="%s" />""" % (url, alt,
+        size, size)
+register.simple_tag(primary_avatar)
+
 def render_avatar(avatar, size=80):
     if not avatar.thumbnail_exists(size):
         avatar.create_thumbnail(size)
diff --git a/avatar/urls.py b/avatar/urls.py
index c3dc07b..0ddc942 100644
--- a/avatar/urls.py
+++ b/avatar/urls.py
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ urlpatterns = patterns('avatar.views',
     url('^add/$', 'add', name='avatar_add'),
     url('^change/$', 'change', name='avatar_change'),
     url('^delete/$', 'delete', name='avatar_delete'),
+    url('^render_primary/(?P<user>[\+\w]+)/(?P<size>[\d]+)/$', 'render_primary', name='avatar_render_primary'),    
 )
diff --git a/avatar/views.py b/avatar/views.py
index e909052..5b78e25 100644
--- a/avatar/views.py
+++ b/avatar/views.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import os.path
 
-from avatar.models import Avatar, avatar_file_path
+from avatar.models import Avatar, avatar_file_path, get_primary_avatar
 from avatar.forms import PrimaryAvatarForm, DeleteAvatarForm, UploadAvatarForm
-from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
+from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect, HttpResponse
 from django.shortcuts import render_to_response
 from django.template import RequestContext
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def _get_avatars(user):
     else:
         # Slice the default set now that we used the queryset for the primary avatar
         avatars = avatars[:AVATAR_MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER]
-    return (avatar, avatars)
+    return (avatar, avatars)    
 
 @login_required
 def add(request, extra_context={}, next_override=None):
@@ -164,3 +164,16 @@ def delete(request, extra_context={}, next_override=None):
               'next': next_override or _get_next(request), }
         )
     )
+    
+def render_primary(request, user=None, size=80, extra_context={}):
+    avatar = get_primary_avatar(user, size=size)
+    if avatar:
+        # FIXME: later, add an option to render the resized avatar dynamically
+        # instead of redirecting to an already created static file. This could
+        # be useful in certain situations, particulary if there is a CDN and
+        # we want to minimize the storage usage on our static server, letting
+        # the CDN store those files instead
+        return HttpResponseRedirect(avatar.avatar_url(size))
+    else:
+        return HttpResponseRedirect(AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL)
+