ATTRIBUTED BENEDETTO BRIOSCO (1460–1514) AND WORKSHOP, ITALIAN, LOMBARDY, CIRCA 1500 | RELIEF WITH THE VIRGIN AND CHILD SURROUNDED BY ANGELS

This delicate relief bears a close stylistic resemblance to a marble relief of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist formerly in the collection of Stefano Bardini, Florence, which has been attributed to the Lombard sculptor Benedetto Briosco (see Fondazione Federico Zeri, Fototeca Zeri, entry no. 79402). Compare the theatrical effect of the curtain drawn back by Angels, the 'triangular' figural composition, and the semi-circular swathes of drapery. Briosco, who trained in Milan, collaborated with Giovanni Antonio Amadeo on the facade of the Certosia di Pavia before executing numerous other ecclesiastical commissions in northern Italy, including the crypt reliefs in the Duomo of Cremona, in which a similar figural style can be observed.

RELATED LITERATURE

C. Hill (ed.), Courtauld Institute Illustration Archives, Archive 2: 15th & 16th Century Sculpture in Italy, Part 8: Lombardy, 1978, nos. 2/8/76-86