The Madonna and Child with a female saint presenting them with fruit

The composition draws upon Leonardesque prototypes, notably recalling the Madonna and Child with Lamb in the Pinacoteca di Brera (attributed to Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina; inv. no. 1162), and echoing the engaging pose of Lorenzo di Credi’s Madonna di Piazza in Pistoia Cathedral. Dr. Laura Pagnotta notes further analogies between facial types in the present painting and those in di Credi’s Sacra Conversazione (Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. MI 598), as well as in his tondo in the Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia (Venice, inv. no. 4⁄73). She also observes the present painting’s affinities with a tondo formerly attributed to Giuliano Bugiardini—though, as suggested by Pagnotta, more plausibly linked to the circle of Raffaellino del Garbo—depicting the Holy Family (Genoa, Musei di Strada Nuova – Palazzo Bianco, inv. no. 273). The landscape’s northern-inspired architectural motifs, while common in many Tuscan paintings of the early Cinquecento, appear with particular frequency in paintings by di Credi and his circle.

We are grateful to Dr. Laura Pagnotta for her assistance in cataloguing the present painting and for generously sharing her observations, which form the basis of this entry (written communication, 24 April 2025).