.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Antonio del Ceraiolo was active in Florence circa 1520-1538. Little is known of his life but he did study under Lorenzo di Credi and Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, both extremely successful and well-respected painters in the first half of the cinquecento.
The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist is the type of subject matter typically in demand in Florence at the time. Indeed the memory of Fra Girolamo's Savonarola's apocalyptic utterances, his bonfires of vanities and his stringent guidelines for artists were still fresh in the public's memory and a relatively demure style of painting religious figures, especially female ones, was au goût du jour.
Accordingly, the present composition, most probably commissioned for private devotional use or maybe for a chapel in a church, follows certain tenets in terms of a very traditional rendering of the subject as Mater Amabilis, with an emphasis of mother-child relationship. The Virgin wears a thin veil as a sign of modesty, a blue cloak, the color symbolic of heaven and a reminder of her role as the Queen of Heaven, and a red habit. Sitting on her lap the Christ child embraces the infant Saint John, who was patron saint of Florence - although there is no biblical basis for this scene it occurs frequently during the Italian Renaissance. The Virgin tenderly rests her left hand on her Son's ankle as She looks engagingly at the viewer, emphasizing Her role as Mother of Jesus and hence Mother of the brethen. Through the window behind the figures one can see a utopian landscape - set off against blue mountains, a medieval castle surrounded by greenery, and a traveler on horseback riding along the lake in front of it. One tree stands unnaturally tall and is very reminiscent in style of Pietro Perugino, as are the jewel-like colors and the pale carnations of the figures, Ceraiolo would indeed have been familiar with Perugino's work. Very similar compositions of the same subject with similar dimensions are in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist is the type of subject matter typically in demand in Florence at the time. Indeed the memory of Fra Girolamo's Savonarola's apocalyptic utterances, his bonfires of vanities and his stringent guidelines for artists were still fresh in the public's memory and a relatively demure style of painting religious figures, especially female ones, was au goût du jour.
Accordingly, the present composition, most probably commissioned for private devotional use or maybe for a chapel in a church, follows certain tenets in terms of a very traditional rendering of the subject as Mater Amabilis, with an emphasis of mother-child relationship. The Virgin wears a thin veil as a sign of modesty, a blue cloak, the color symbolic of heaven and a reminder of her role as the Queen of Heaven, and a red habit. Sitting on her lap the Christ child embraces the infant Saint John, who was patron saint of Florence - although there is no biblical basis for this scene it occurs frequently during the Italian Renaissance. The Virgin tenderly rests her left hand on her Son's ankle as She looks engagingly at the viewer, emphasizing Her role as Mother of Jesus and hence Mother of the brethen. Through the window behind the figures one can see a utopian landscape - set off against blue mountains, a medieval castle surrounded by greenery, and a traveler on horseback riding along the lake in front of it. One tree stands unnaturally tall and is very reminiscent in style of Pietro Perugino, as are the jewel-like colors and the pale carnations of the figures, Ceraiolo would indeed have been familiar with Perugino's work. Very similar compositions of the same subject with similar dimensions are in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.