JOSEF VYJÍDÁCEK (Olomouc, 1887 – Prostejov, 1943)

MADONNA WITH CHILD, YOUNG SAINT JOHN AND AN ANGEL (Work dated and signed freely based on the Madonna with Child, Young Saint John and a holy child by Raphael called "Madonna Terranuova") Oil on canvas (dated 1938 and signed) by JOSEF VYJÍDÁCEK (Olomouc, 1887 – Prostejov, 1943) Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia) A painting of excellent compositional quality, created in the Thirties of the twentieth century, by the Czech academic painter Josef Vyjídácek. The master's signature and date (1938) are visible in the lower left. The artist, a distinguished academic of the Narodnj Museum in Prague (he painted, among others, a Last Supper and a Return of the Prodigal Son in the vault of the church of San Nicola in Topolany, Moravia), freely takes up here a theme dear to many Renaissance artists and, specifically, to Raphael in the famous round panel “Madonna Terranuova” (1504-1505), now kept at the Gemaeldegalerie of the Staatliche Museum in Berlin. The scene of the Madonna in the center of the composition with the Child handing a cartouche to Young Saint John while an angel (unlike Raphael's painting which instead depicts a holy child), on the right of the scene, offers Mary some “hellebores” (or Christmas roses), is a devotional representation, fruit of the evangelical tradition. The presence of the angel (a free choice of the Czech master) reminds us of the Annunciation, the gift of Christmas roses to Mary (a kind gesture from the angel towards Mary which represents a great novelty compared to the Raphael's original) and the Child in the Mother's womb, are the memory of the Nativity. While the contact between the Child and Young Saint John, through the cartouche, is a vision of what will come, when Saint John the Baptist baptizes Jesus Christ on the banks of the Jordan. Starting from the fifteenth century, Young Saint John (Infant Saint John) is depicted as a curly child, with a cross composed of crossed woods or reeds from which the cartouche departs (with, in general, the inscription ECCE AGNUS DEI) that is unrolled by the Child, while a sackcloth made of goat or camel skin is worn by the little Baptist. The attributes have this explanation: the cross is a symbol of his role as a precursor who anticipates the death of Christ, it is very simple to indicate the poverty and humility of John. The cartouche reports the words that John pronounced when he saw Jesus at the Jordan (as narrated in the Gospels). The camel or goat skin of the dress is a particular also derived from the scriptures and apocrypha in which the poverty of John in the desert is narrated and it is said that he wore just these skins. Behind the protagonists, protected by a mighty enclosure wall that almost reaches Mary's shoulders, stand waters and, in the background, on the left, a turreted city (perhaps Jerusalem) surrounded by walls, while on the right an ancient tower juts out from a rocky promontory. The figure of Raphael's original tondo (called “Terranuova” because it belonged to the homonymous ducal family), so popular in Florentine art at the end of the century, is filled by the artist with the Madonna in the center, seated and with her legs not entirely visible, who holds the Child in her womb, caught in a twist that shows him half-lying down while he turns to Young Saint John on the left; another child balances the composition to the right. The three putti appear connected, with rhythms and pauses, along a horizontal band parallel to that of the horizon. The vivid intertwining of gestures and glances between the characters, studied in their naturalness, refers to the works of Leonardo da Vinci, which had a significant influence on the young artist at the beginning of the Florentine period. The Czech artist Josef Vyjídácek manages to masterfully combine respect for Raphael's original work with the need, all personal, to provide a calibrated and conscious INTERPRETATION of those who do not intend to create only a "copy" (albeit of quality) but rather, through the introduction of new and original elements, a REVISITATION. Filtered and transfigured through his own thoughts and emotions. WORK OF GREAT VISUAL AND EMOTIONAL IMPACT Czech Rep. – 1938 (work signed and dated) Measurements: height cm. 70.5 – width cm. 92.5 (canvas) - (with rooted wooden frame: 92.5 x 113.5) € 5,900.00 Historical-artistic note Starting from the 18th century, in Europe and also in Italy, the more or less faithful reproduction of works considered particularly significant within the history of art was widely developed, therefore often used as a teaching tool in the academies, as substitutes for an original in private collections, and as a souvenir to take to one's homes at the end of travels. The reproduction, reinterpretation and revisiting of older works of art, during these centuries, represent an important phenomenon for the reconstruction of the history of taste, the diffusion and permanence of some iconographic formulas and in some cases also for the recovery of ancient techniques that have fallen into disuse. Website: www.palazzodelbuonsignore.com