School of Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (Correggio c. 1489 – 1534)
Attributable to Pomponio Allegri (Correggio, 1522 - Parma, 1593)
Madonna and Child with two angels and John the Baptist
Oil on panel, cm. 92 x 69, framed cm. 119 x 96
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The work, whose format leads us to assume it was intended for domestic devotion, illustrates a pleasant testimony of Emilian art of the full sixteenth century, with evident references to the school of Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (Correggio c. 1489 – ibid. 1534), undisputed master for the great elegance of his creations, perfectly calibrated between chromatic finesse and dynamic effect, obtained thanks to the concatenation of gestures and glances.
Bringing Leonardo da Vinci's lesson to its extreme fulfillment, he managed to capture the most authentic link between the various figures and, furthermore, by virtue of the expressive sweetness of his characters and the extensive use of perspective, he established himself in the Po Valley as the most modern and bold bearer of the ideals of the Renaissance.
As we can also see in our beautiful panel, he opposed a fluid, luminous style of strong emotional involvement to the explosion of Venetian color and Roman Mannerism.
Deepening the stylistic analysis, it is easy to place the paternity in the hands of Pomponio Allegri; the setting of the figure of the Virgin in particular, with her head slightly reclined, her lowered gaze and the pose of the body recall, pays homage, almost copying it, to the Madonna del latte of Budapest made by her father.
The composition, extremely refined, sees the Madonna seated with the Child supported on her knees, and is enriched by the presence of a pair of angels, one holding a branch full of cherries in his hands and the other offering a part to the child, fruits alluding to Original Sin, by virtue of the red color of the blood of the Passion. Behind, finally, on the right, is placed a young Saint John the Baptist, already with his typical attributes as a hermit in the desert, namely the camel's fur and the rod with the cross.
Particular of pure poetry is then the glimpse that we can glimpse on the right, treated with a vigor and a spirit of modernity rare for the time, characterized by a brilliant color and a clear light, revealing a village and an evocative perched castle.
Pomponio's production is very detailed, since in his works we can see amalgamated both the formal researches and the linearisms of the last Parmesan mannerists and, above all, the markedly classicizing stylistic features close to the art of his father, Antonio Allegri called Correggio (Correggio c. 1489 – ibid. 1534).
He trained within his father's workshop and was his pupil even for a very short time, showing a clear adherence to the taste and style of the master and the fidelity to his compositional and typological modules, which testify to the dependence of Pomponio's art on that of Correggio.
Pomponio's first works date back to around the middle of the century and the frescoes for the chapel of the Corpus Domini in the church of San Quirino in Correggio date back to 1546. In 1555 we then know him in Reggio Emilia where he will stay until his definitive transfer to Parma in 1559, gaining a discrete success from the local clients.
In the panel, which we can place in the full maturity of the painter, it is noted that the type of the Virgin responds to a peculiar model of his production, characterized by a massive corporeality and, as we have already anticipated, an iconographic conception typical of Correggio.
The figurative scheme proposed in the painting also refers to the graceful paternal compositions: the characters, characterized by rigid and restrained gestures, are arranged according to a diagonal trend interrupted by the figure of Mary, solid and immobile in her still rather centralized position.
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The work, like all our objects, is sold with a photographic certificate of authenticity according to law.
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