The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
oil on panel, 39 x 28.5 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private collection, Switzerland

The present composition is set in the open landscape and is characterised by an intimate atmosphere, evidenced by the gazes exchanged between the three figures who fill the picture plane. This quality of intimacy is not only expressed in the figures’ features but also by their gestures, including the playful manner in which the Infant Saint John holds the lamb, the emblem of the Agnus Dei prefiguring Christ’s role of self-sacrifice to redeem the sins of man. The same playful quality can be seen in the Christ Child’s gesture, reaching out to grasp Saint John’s hair as he stands on his mother’s leg.

In terms of style this work is close to those of the School of Ferrara and Romagna of the second half of the Cinquecento, in which a similar quality of iridescence in the drapery can be noted. Likewise, the sculptural monumentality of the figures, and the compositional arrangement reveals debts to the early Cinquecento models of the followers of Raphael and Michelangelo, as interpreted through a knowledge of the works of Pellegrino Tibaldi, Battista Dossi and Girolamo da Carpi. These are all elements that are frequently re-current in the works of Mannerist painters active in and around Ferrara at about the time of the Council of Trent in 1563, and especially in the works of Sebastiano Filippi, called il Bastianino. Comparisons can be made with the Madonna in Glory with Saints Barbara and Catherine in the Ferrara Cathedral and the Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist in the collection of the Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara (see J. Bentini (ed.), Il Bastianino e la pittura a Ferrara nel secondo Cinquecento, Bologna 1985, pp. 102–110).

Sebastiano Filippi, called il Bastianino (circa 1530–1602) was also one of the most important painters active at the court of Duca Alfonso II d’Este (1559–1597) in Ferrara, one of the important cultural, artistic and political centres of Europe at the time. Sebastiano had his initial training from his father Camillo, who was involved in many decorative schemes alongside Battista Dossi, Benvenuto Tisi called il Garofalo and Girolamo da Carpi. Following a journey to Rome when he was 18 years old, Bastianino’s works reveal the strong influence of Michelangelo, which especially after 1570–75, became enhanced by a new feeling for colour derived from a knowledge of the late works of Titian.