(Bologna 1576–1622 Parma)
The Madonna teaching the Christ Child to read,
oil on canvas, 116.5 x 104 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European Collection

We are grateful to Emilio Negro and Nicosetta Roio for endorsing the attribution on the basis of a photograph and for their help in cataloguing this lot.

This work relates to a composition that Spada used in two other instances for the Holy Family with the Madonna teaching the Christ Child to read, one in the Koelliker Collection (see N. Roio, Bartolomeo Schedoni e Leonello Spada: alcune opere sconosciute di due ‘caravaggisti’ padani, in: Valori Tattili, 1, 2013, pp. 56–57, 64, note 20, p. 60, fig.16G; G. Papi [ed.], La ‘Schola’ del Caravaggio. Dipinti della Collezione Koelliker, Milan 2006, p. 190, cat. no. 54); and the other in a private collection, formerly with Dorotheum (sale 30 April 2019, lot 398). There is also a derivation of the present composition in a reduced size in the Museo Civico di Modena (inv. no. 216).

The presence of various autograph versions of this subject, in the present instance omitting Saint Joseph, reveals the success of this composition, depicting the theme of the Virgin teaching the young Christ Child, no longer an infant, to read.

The present painting represents the sacred scene in an unadorned domestic atmosphere, thereby ensuring that the narrative centre is created by the Madonna and Child who tenderly looks up at his mother as she reads, resting her book on a ledge on which the infant is seated. This painting, together with the two other versions, belongs to the artist’s maturity, when he was in Parma. In the works that belong to this phase of Lionello Spada’s production certain characteristics prevail: the ample form of the figures, a warm palette and a particularly personal way of rendering drapery folds, with strong contrasts of light and shade, set against a neutral background. Works of the same period with which the present painting can be compared include the Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist in a private collection and the Deposition formerly in the Palazzo Chigi, Rome (see Roio, op. cit., figs. 15, 17).

Lionello Spada came from modest origins, however owing to his skill he was able to attain the status of an independent painter, working under the protection of patrons of the highest rank, including Cardinals Maffeo Barberini and Alessandro d’Este. During his final years he lived in Parma working in the service of Duke Ranuccio Farnese. His mature works, especially those of the middle-years, are suggested by the distinctive influence of Caravaggio and his followers, Giovanni Baglione and Bartolomeo Manfredi, together with the stylistic traits he acquired in his youth, influenced by the artistic developments of Bologna, especially in the studio of the Carracci.