The Virgin Reading - Eastern School Around 1800

Eastern School around 1800
The Virgin Reading
Oil on panel
H. 15 cm; L. 12.3 cm
(29 x 27 cm including frame)

Provenance : Polish collections in the 19th century (armored wax seals and texts on the back)

Our small panel, the back of which bears numerous stamps, must have its origins in Western Europe. It is most certainly in Poland where the families whose arms are engraved in red wax come from. The Polish origin of the work is not certain, but its conservation in this country during the first half of the 19th century is beyond doubt. The subject of the Virgin reading was known in the 18th century and is found in particular in several Italian painters, including Pompeo Batoni, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Rosalba Carriera around 1760/80. In our portrait, the blue, common to present the purity of the Virgin, is replaced by a large white stole.