The Madonna at Prayer

This small devotional work showing the Madonna at prayer is a particularly fine version of one of Sassoferrato's most celebrated compositions. One such version can be found in the Museé des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (see F. Macé De Lépinay, P. Zampetti, S. Cuppini Sassi, Giovanni Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato", exhibition catalogue, Sassoferrato, 1990, p. 52, no. 6). The simplicity of the composition and sobriety of the palette are qualities that established these depictions of the Madonna as among the most effective and recognisable religious images of the 17th Century.