The ''Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist

Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

, executed in 1493 and housed in the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

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 The Convent of San Domenico ( it, Convento di San Domenico) is a Dominican convent in Fiesole, Italy, situated between the hill of Fiesole and the suburbs of Florence. It was founded in 1406 and completed in 1435 on the initiative of Giovann ...

, which had been perhaps restored by

Giuliano da Sangallo Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445 – 1516) was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the favored architect of Lorenzo de' Medici, his patron. In this role, Giulia ...

a few years before. In 1493 Perugino had married Chiara Fancelli, daughter of the architect

Luca Fancelli Luca Fancelli (c. 1430 – c. 1502) was an Italian architect and sculptor. Biography Fancelli was born in Settignano, a fraction of Florence. Much of his life and work is an enigma; what is known for sure is that he trained as a stonecutte ...

; the face of the Madonna is a portrait of her. Pietro Perugino 070

In 1786 the panel was acquired for 1000

scudi The ''scudo'' (pl. ''scudi'') was the name for a number of coins used in various states in the Italian peninsula until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin ''s ...

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 Lorenzo di Credi (1456/59 – January 12, 1537) was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor best known for his paintings of religious subjects. He is most famous for having worked in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio at the same time ...

; 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 The Pietà (; meaning " pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form ...

''. Also typical is the serene landscape with thin trees. The Virgin sits on a high throne decorated with

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

s at the base, which also includes the signature PETRVS PERVSINVS PINXIT AN OMCCCCLXXXXIII ('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 In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning holy (or sacred) conversation, is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of sain ...

'' elaborated in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Antonello da Messina Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina ( 1430February 1479), was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Early Italian Renaissance. ...

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 Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...

. Another example of this evolution is the '' Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria'' in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Sources

External links

Page the museum's website
{{Authority control Paintings by Pietro Perugino in the Uffizi 1493 paintings

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...