This resplendent early 17th-century depiction of the Virgin and Child bridges two worlds: the stillness of Byzantine iconography and the tender naturalism of Italy.
The Virgin’s dark-blue mantle, embroidered with gold thread and marked by three stars, symbols of her perpetual virginity, encloses the Christ Child, who raises His hand in benediction while gazing directly at the viewer. The gilded ground and halos retain the visual language of the icon, while the softly shaded faces and naturalistic drapery reveal a painter attuned to the devotional warmth of the early Baroque.
Probably executed around 1630, the work reflects a moment when artists sought to reconcile the inherited grandeur of Renaissance sacred art with the immediacy of post-Tridentine piety. Such paintings were particularly favoured in the central regions of Italy, where small churches and confraternities continued to commission luminous images of the Virgin as ‘mediatrix’ and ‘intercessor’.
Created for a chapel or modest altar, the panel would have glowed by candlelight, its gold surface transforming devotional space into a vision of celestial radiance. It stands as a testament to faith’s continuity through changing times - an image both ancient in form and vividly human in spirit.
Held in a 20th-century giltwood frame with a simple, flat profile and slender raised sight edge.
Medium: Oil and gilt on canvas
Overall size: 36” x 49” / 92cm x 125cm
Year of creation: c. 1630
Provenance: Private collection, Italy.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Canvas relined. Faint stretcher marks. Craquelure throughout. The paint layer is stable. Later stretcher. Historic repairs to the gilding. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
Our reference: BRV2216
