FOLLOWER OF BERNARDINO LUINI | MADONNA AND CHILD

Private noble collection, Europe, since the 19th century;

Thence by descent to the present owner. 

This serene portrayal of the Madonna and Child closely follows a composition made popular by Bernardino Luini.  Despite an added table with a small vase at the left edge, preserved in this painting are the Leonardesque qualities of the figures, the vivid coloring of their costume, and the delicate lilies in the darkened background, a symbol of the Madonna's virginity. The prime version of this composition is preserved today in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples,¹ while another close comparable, which records the composition in reverse, is today in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon.²

1. Oil on panel, 84 by 66 cm, inv. no. 95. Fondazione Zeri Archive, ref. no. 31814. 

2. Oil on panel, 80 by 68 cm, inv. no. 30. Fondazione Zeri Archive, ref. no. 31831.