On this large canvas (159 × 127.5 cm) the Madonna is depicted with the Christ Child and Saint John the Baptist. Mary, clad in a red tunic and blue mantle, stands in a serenely formal pose with a halo above her head; the Infant Christ raises His hand in blessing, while John the Baptist – recognizable by his woolen cloak, cross, and the scroll inscribed “Ecce Agnus Dei” – turns his gaze toward Him. An architectural backdrop with columns and drapery lends the scene monumentality; soft light accentuates the sculptural presence of the figures, and the flowing contours and graceful gestures reflect the influence of the Florentine-Roman school and a Mannerist idiom.

An expert opinion by Professor Mauro Lucco, of the University of Bologna and the author of numerous books on Renaissance art, attributes this “Madonna and Child” to Denis Calvaert. Calvaert was a painter of the late-sixteenth-century Bolognese school working in the Mannerist style, and one of the few Flemings (he was born in Antwerp) to achieve success as a painter in Italy. He taught such celebrated artists as Guido Reni, Domenichino, and Lavinia Fontana. Stimulated in part by Calvaert – and in rivalry with him – the school of the Carracci took shape in Bologna, making the Bolognese school a principal stronghold of academic painting in Italy (Ludovico Carracci attended Calvaert’s funeral). Works by Calvaert are held in the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States, the Royal Collection in London, the Prado in Madrid, and the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands.

With the exception of certain details, the painting follows the famous composition by Lorenzo Sabatini, “Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist” (in whose workshop Calvaert worked), now in the Louvre, Paris. Sabatini’s painting was presented to Pope Gregory XIII. Sabatini and Calvaert worked together on the decoration of the Papal Palace in the Vatican. It is likely they also collaborated on the execution of the present painting, which is in all probability one of Calvaert’s earliest works as an independent master.

Size: 159 x 127,5 cm.