19th century, after Guido Reni
Madonna with Child
Oil on canvas, 68 x 88 cm
Contemporary frame, 105 x 124 cm
The examined work, depicting the Virgin with Child, captured in a moment of great tenderness, finds a direct comparison with the famous canvas by Guido Reni (1574 -1642) now preserved in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, dated in the catalog between 1640 and 1642 (66x88 cm).
This iconic depiction of the Madonna in adoration of the Child, whose original prototype is unknown, enjoyed great pictorial and engraved success among contemporaries and in subsequent centuries. Evidence of this are the various versions made by Guido Reni, such as the one in the Doria Pamphili Gallery in Rome (1625-1627), but also the re-propositions made by his workshop to satisfy the numerous requests of ecclesiastical and private commissions. A significant case, proving the great success of the Renian model, is an early and faithful canvas executed by Giovanni Battista Salvi, known as Sassoferrato (1609-1685), now preserved at the A. L. Parmeggiani Civic Gallery in Reggio Emilia.
Sassoferrato particularly appreciated Reni's iconographic invention, deriving from it subsequently other works of the same subject and similar composition. Equally dated to the 17th century are some engravings made, with variations, by the Dutchman Cornelis Bloemaert and the Frenchman Jean Boulanger, both located in the Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe of the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna.
The main variation of this scene sees the Virgin with her hands joined in prayer, or with her hands on her chest. Other variations concern the position of the head of the sleeping Baby Jesus, facing upwards, as in this version, rather than reclined to the side, as well as the position of the arms and legs; finally, the draperies in the background may vary.
These engravings, the d’après, and the canvases of Sassoferrato contributed to the immense fortune of this iconography, widespread and appreciated over the centuries especially for its devotional potential and the intense emotionality transmitted.
Also in the examined version stands out the intensity of the close-up scene: the body abandoned in the serene rest of the Child occupies it transversally, where the divine nature is subject in sleep to the human one; above him, inclined in a protective and also contemplative gesture, the Virgin Mary, who expresses all the maternal tenderness, but also the awareness of the future of the Son.
The interesting pictorial device of the circular format, also present in the versions of Guido Reni and in the engravings, allows the observer to feel involved and emotionally engaged.
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