The Madonna and Child

This diminutive panel was recognized by Professor Andrea de Marchi as a work by the celebrated Bergamese painter Andrea Previtali at the time of the sale in 2005. The painting dates to circa 1515, several years after the artist’s return to Bergamo from Venice in 1511. It exhibits a lustre and a softness of handling evident in several of his paintings from this period: his triptych in Santa Maria del Conventino, Bergamo, of which a portion depicting Saint Sigismund survives dated 1512; the Cassotti de Mazzoleni altarpiece painted for Santo Spirito, Bergamo, dated 1515 when payment was received, though in reality completed between 1512 and 1513; and the altarpiece painted in 1517 for San Nicola, Almenno San Salvatore.