Unknown Artist - Madonna and Child with Saints

The iconographic interpretation of the work is fairly simple, although there is some uncertainty regarding the male figure on the right. In this painting, the Madonna and Child is undoubtedly facing Saint Elizabeth, mother of Saint John the Baptist. There can be no doubt that the child the saint holds in her arms is Saint John the Baptist, given the animal skin wrapped around him and the cross-shaped staff resting on the ground. As mentioned, there is some uncertainty regarding the male figure. The overall theme of the work suggests a completion of the family of Saint John, and therefore Saint Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, a highly probable hypothesis. However, given the closeness to the Madonna and Child, it could be Saint Joseph himself, completing the iconographic theme of the Holy Family.

Formally, the composition is very rigorously organized along a diagonal that descends from our right toward the center of the work. The figures exhibit a certain monumentality typical of the High Renaissance, and the rendering perfectly reflects a classicist naturalism subject to considerable idealization. Technically, the painter displays a fine hand, especially in the Madonna's face. The scene is set in an enclosed space where space is perceived through the passages of light that indicate depth.

From a stylistic and formal analysis of the work, we can outline the profile of a likely 16th-century artist, still heavily influenced by a typically Renaissance rationality and monumentality. However, his somewhat dry pictorial style and the bright chromatic range of the garments already point to a Mannerist cultural background.

The transaction takes place with maximum security for both the seller and the buyer. We take care of the conformity (provenance, authenticity, state of conservation) of the work and handle the shipping.
Returns are possible no later than 14 days after receiving the order.