Workshop of Francesco Granacci (Villamagna di Volterra, 1469 – Florence, 1543)
Madonna and Child
Oil on panel, 83 x 59 cm
The tender sacred image presents the characteristics of that painting made of innovative and experimental ideas that characterized the early sixteenth century in Florence. A certain tempered eccentricity and the use of bright colors bring it closer to the more classicist works of the Florentine Francesco Granacci (Villamagna di Volterra, 1469 – Florence, November 30, 1543) and, in a certain way, of Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani, also known as Maestro dei Paesaggi Kress (1484 – 1527).
Despite the not entirely positive image outlined by Giorgio Vasari, Granacci was instead a protagonist of the modern manner in Florence, involved in important construction sites such as the decoration of the Borgherini Chamber, shared with leading artists such as Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo.
From a young age, Francesco was close to the most active cultural circles in the city, first at the Garden of San Marco under the aegis of Lorenzo the Magnificent, then in the workshop of the carpenter and architect Baccio d'Agnolo, where artists of the caliber of Filippino Lippi, the Sangallo, Raphael, and sometimes Michelangelo, debated the arts. He will not be forgotten among those who went to learn the teachings of Masaccio at the Brancacci Chapel, or the new lesson imparted by Michelangelo with the Battle of Cascina, a cartoon that he was able to study together with a few others with the permission of the master.
In 1508 he was called to Rome, along with other artists, as an assistant for the transfer of the cartoons onto the vault of the Sistine Chapel. Back in Florence he painted the Madonna and Child between Saints Francis and Jerome for the convent of the Augustinians of San Gallo (Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia), the Madonna della Cintola for the Compagnia di San Benedetto Bigi, and in 1515 he participated in the creation of the decorations for the visit to Florence of Pope Leo X; in this same period he created the Stories of Saint Joseph, commissioned by Francesco Bogherini and now divided between the Uffizi and Palazzo Davanzati museums in Florence.
The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist of the Museum of Western and Oriental Art of Odessa, dated 1519, allows us to define Granacci's manner in the period in which he reached full stylistic maturity: in these years he abandoned the ancient fifteenth-century schemes to express a more complex idea of space and the movements of the figures. Some works datable between 1520 and 1525 betray the direct influence of the style of Fra Bartolomeo. Perugino, on the other hand, inspired the altarpiece with the Virgin Assunta and four saints in the gallery of the Accademia in Florence, created around the middle of the third decade of the century. The Mannerist experiences lead Granacci's painting to new solutions, which are manifested above all in works of reduced format, while in those of larger dimensions the style remains classicizing.
The works of Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani are linked to Granacci's works on several occasions, borrowing compositional ideas and interpreting them with a very personal, almost bizarre and eccentric vein, which was his own and thanks to which he reached considerable peaks.
Larciani is also known as Maestro dei Paesaggi Kress, from three delightful tablets of the Kress Collection in the National Gallery of Washington. An imaginative and "eccentric" artist, as Federico Zeri (1962) defined him, he developed anti-academic and bizarre ways in chromatic and expressive research of the characters, even with caricatural results, starting from classicizing compositional formulas elaborated on the basis of a profound knowledge of Dürer's graphics.
The object is in good condition.
With Ars Antiqua it is possible to defer all amounts up to a maximum of €7,500 at ZERO RATE, for a total of 15 INSTALLMENTS.
Ex. Tot. €4,500 = Monthly installment €300 for 15 months.
Ex. Tot. €3,600 = Monthly installment €720 for 5 months.
For amounts exceeding €7,500 or for a longer deferral (over 15 installments), we can provide a customized payment.
Contact us directly for the best quote.
LIVE TV
– SUNDAY 7.00 PM – 11.00 PM Dig.terr. 126 + 809 SKY
- THURSDAY 9.00 PM - 12.00 AM Dig.terr. 134 + 809 SKY
– Streaming on our website www.arsantiquasrl.com and on our social media Facebook and Youtube
All the works proposed by Ars Antiqua are sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity in accordance with the law and a detailed information sheet.
It is possible to see the works directly at the Milan showroom gallery, in via Pisacane 55 and 57.
We personally organize transport and delivery of the works, both for Italy and abroad.