Niccolò Pisano

Conceived as an object of private devotion, the present painting is a rare work by Niccolò Pisano. Based on stylistic similarities with compositions by the Cremonese artist Boccaccio Boccaccino, with whom Pisano has often been confused, this work likely dates to the painter's tenure in Ferrara, where he was summoned by Duke Alfonso I d'Este in 1499 and remained until 1534. Pisano and Boccaccino overlapped in the erudite court center around the turn of the sixteenth century, when their artistic styles fused.