Lot Essay
Born to a family of artists in Florence, Luca Penni trained in Raphael’s Roman workshop, according to Pellegrino Antonio Orlandi (Abecedario pittorico, Bologna, 1704, p. 298). Following the city’s sack by the Holy Roman Empire in 1527, Penni accompanied his brother-in-law, the painter Perino del Vaga, to Genoa and Lucca, and assisted him with various commissions including the decoration of the Palazzo Doria di Fassolo. From 1531, the artist is documented in France, initially at the court of King Francois I at Fontainebleau, where he worked alongside Rosso Fiorentino and Primaticcio, before settling in Paris until his death in 1557. Penni also produced numerous designs for engravers including Leon Davent, Etienne Delaune and Giorgio Ghisi, as well as for tapestries and stained glass.
The influence and inventions of Raphael and his pupils are particularly evident in the graceful figures, the smooth rendering of their faces, the colouring and composition; these elements have led both Sylvie Béguin and Dominique Cordellier to assign the painting to Penni’s youth, while he was still working in Raphael’s orbit. Béguin, who first published the painting in 2004, notes that the somewhat pensive Madonna, turning her gaze away from the child to the donor, and the classical architecture situated in the background, recall Giulio Romano’s Fugger altarpiece (Church of Santa Maria dell’Anima, Rome), whilst the interaction of the Infant Christ and Saint John the Baptist, bears similarities with Raphael’s Madonna of the Roses (Museo del Prado, Madrid). In the present picture, the apple clutched between the children relates to Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden of Eden, subtly referring to Christ’s role as Redeemer – further emphasised by the cross held by Saint John upon which Christ would be crucified.
The profile of the donor at lower right is beautifully executed; his dark hair contrasts with his red costume, while his attention, solely focused on the Virgin, compels the viewer’s eye towards her with the support of the pyramidal composition. Whilst he remains unidentified, Sylvie Béguin proposes a dating to the 1520s based on his clothing; his red jacket with black trimmings was fashionable amongst the affluent in the early part of that decade.
We are grateful to Professor Paul Joannides for his assistance with this catalogue entry.
A note on the provenance:
Sir Robert Strange was a Scottish engraver who assembled a considerable collection of pictures during his time in Italy in the 1760s. Two Madonnas credited to Raphael, including the present work, were sold in these Rooms on 9th February 1771.