17th Century, Roman-neapolitan School, Madonna With Baby

17th century, Roman-Neapolitan school
Madonna with Baby
Oil on copper, cm 25,5 x 18
With frame, cm 37 x 29

A fairly common model of composition since the beginning of the fifteenth century is that which sees the Virgin sitting with the child blessing erected on his knees of which this oil on brass is an example. 
Here, however, the hieraticity that characterizes older approaches is reduced in favor of a naturalness and proximity to man more consistent with the late 16th century-early 17th century, when the painting was made. Notice, for example, the gentle way in which the virgin caresses the child’s foot with one hand and wraps her flank around the other, holding it firmly on her. The little Jesus, in fact, is represented as a child still clumsy in movements, and not as a small man despite the usual act of blessing.  
The bottom is completed by a straight column of a high pedestal, recalling the taste of antiquity, and two cherubs who watch over mother and son. The solidity of the bodies and their monumentality allow us to insert the work in the context of the 16th century Roman school where it still echoes its famous baroque classicism that took its origins from the pedestrian observation of models of the 16th century in particular raffaellesques. The reinterpretation of these references is found in the comparison with the works of Giulio Romano in which we review the monumentality of the bodies that have so inspired generations of successive painters, among which the author of this work

The object is in good condition