Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian | |
---|---|
Artist | Pietro Perugino |
Year | 1493 |
Medium | Oil on panel |
Dimensions | 178 cm × 164 cm (70 in × 65 in) |
Location | Uffizi Gallery, Florence |
The Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, executed in 1493 and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
History
The work was commissioned by Cornelia Salviati, widow of the Venetian merchant Giovanni Martini, and his son Roberto, for the chapel of the convent of San Domenico, Fiesole, which had been perhaps restored by Giuliano da Sangallo a few years before. In 1493 Perugino had married Chiara Fancelli, daughter of the architect Luca Fancelli; the face of the Madonna is a portrait of her.
In 1786 the panel was acquired for 1000 scudi by Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, becoming part of the future Uffizi Gallery. The original chapel was redecorated by a painting by Lorenzo di Credi; the one now in the church is a copy by Garibaldo Ceccarelli.
It was restored in 1995.
Description
The background, this time featuring two bays, is one of the many porticoes painted by Perugino in the 1480s and 1490s, in works such as the Fano Altarpiece or the Pietà. Also typical is the serene landscape with thin trees.
The Virgin sits on a high throne decorated with grotesques at the base, which also includes the signature PETRVS PERVSINVS PINXIT AN[NO] MCCCCLXXXXIII ('Pietro Perugino painted it, 1493'). She holds the Christ Child on her knees, as he looks towards John the Baptist on the left; John, in turn, points at him. On the right is the common representation of Saint Sebastian martyred by arrows, his contemplative gaze directed to the heavens.
The composition was one of the first examples in Florence of the new style of sacra conversazione elaborated in Venice by Antonello da Messina and Giovanni Bellini a few years before, with a pyramidal development pivoting on the central figure of the Virgin on a high throne. The painting is also one of the first by Perugino in which the Madonna is no longer an elegant maid, but a more mature and severe woman, according to the more sober climate introduced in Florence by Girolamo Savonarola. Another example of this evolution is the Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Sources
- Garibaldi, Vittoria (2004). "Perugino". Pittori del Rinascimento (in Italian). Florence: Scala.
External links
- Page the museum's website (in Italian)
- v
- t
- e
- Nativity of the Virgin (c. 1472)
- Pietà Gonfalon (c. 1472)
- Visitation (c. 1472–1473)
- Miracle of the Snow (c. 1472–1474)
- Adoration of the Magi (Perugia) (c. 1470–1476)
- God the Father with Two Saints (1477–1478)
- St Sebastian between St Roch and St Peter (c. 1478)
- Delivery of the Keys (c. 1481–1482)
- Baptism of Christ (c. 1482)
- Moses Leaving for Egypt (c. 1482)
- Apollo and Daphnis (c. 1483)
- Galitzin Triptych (c. 1485)
- Portrait of Lorenzo di Credi (c. 1488)
- Annunciation of Fano (c. 1488–1490)
- St Sebastian (Nationalmuseum) (c. 1490)
- Albani Torlonia Polyptych (c. 1491)
- Madonna and Child with St Rose and St Catherine (c. 1490–1492) (with Andrea Aloigi)
- Agony in the Garden (c. 1483–1493)
- Pietà (c. 1483–1493)
- Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian (1493)
- The Virgin appearing to St. Bernard (c. 1490–1494)
- Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St Augustine (1494)
- Portrait of Francesco delle Opere (1494)
- Crucifixion (c. 1483–1495)
- St Sebastian (Hermitage) (1493–1494)
- Last Supper (c. 1493–1495)
- Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1495)
- Madonna and Child with Two Saints (c. 1495)
- Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1495)
- Pazzi Crucifixion (c. 1495)
- Portrait of a Boy (1495)
- St Sebastian (Louvre) (c. 1495)
- Decemviri Altarpiece (1495–1496)
- Fano Altarpiece (1497)
- Madonna and Child with the Infant John the Baptist (c. 1497)
- Madonna della Consolazione (c. 1496–1498)
- Madonna del Sacco (c. 1495–1500)
- Ascension of Christ (c. 1496–1500)
- Certosa di Pavia Altarpiece (c. 1496–1500)
- Collegio del Cambio frescos (1496–1500)
- San Pietro Polyptych (c. 1496–1500)
- San Francesco al Prato Resurrection (c. 1499)
- Mary Magdalene (c. 1500)
- Tezi Altarpiece (c. 1500)
- Vallombrosa Altarpiece (c. 1500)
- Madonna in Glory with Saints (c. 1500–1501)
- Gonfalon of Justice (c. 1501)
- Madonna and Child (c. 1501)
- Monteripido Altarpiece (1502)
- The Battle Between Love and Chastity (1503)
- Adoration of the Magi (1504)
- Marriage of the Virgin (c. 1500–1504)
- The Martyrdom of St Sebastian (1505)
- Annunziata Polyptych (1504–1507)
- Chigi Altarpiece (c. 1506–1507)
- Madonna of Loreto (c. 1507)
- St Sebastian (São Paulo) (c. 1507)
- Baptism of Christ (Città della Pieve) (c. 1510)
- Sansepolcro Altarpiece (c. 1510)
- Corciano Altarpiece (1513)
- Madonna and Child with St Herculanus and St Constantius (1515)
- Transfiguration Altarpiece (1517)
- Madonna and Child with St Peter and St Paul (c. 1515–1520)
- Holy Trinity (c. 1505–1521) (with Raphael)
- Adoration of the Magi (Trevi) (c. 1521–1522)
- Spello Pietà (c. 1521–1522)
- Fontignano Madonna (1522)
- Madonna of Graces with Two Saints (1522)
- Sant'Agostino Altarpiece (1502–1523)
- Madonna and Child (c. 1500–1510)