''The Virgin and Child'', commonly known as The Northbrook Madonna after the Northbrook Collection in England, is a painting from the early 16th century (around 1505) by an unknown artist possibly identified as Domenico Alfani. It is in the permanent collection of the

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among th ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, United States. It was formerly attributed to

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

, but scholars have since concluded otherwise.

Description

The Madonna is wearing a red blouse and a dark blue skirt. She and the infant are both fair skinned with light red-orange hair. Behind them is a green landscape receding to blue mountains under a blue sky. A brown structure is on the right side of the landscape.

History

The painting takes its name from having been in the Northbrook Collection in England. The painting was donated to the Worcester Art Museum in 1940. At the time it was attributed to

, but scholars have since discarded that idea. There is no clear consensus on its authorship. It is said to possibly have been the work of a student of Raphael, and that he "may have designed it or supervised its execution", or that it "may have been the result of a collaboration, a practice that Raphael was known for throughout his career." In 2015 the painting was exhibited alongside the ''

Small Cowper Madonna The ''Small Cowper Madonna'' is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary and Child, in a typical Italian countryside. It has been dated to around 1504–1505, the middle of the High Renaissance. Story It is not ...

'' by Raphael, on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The exhibition's intent was to attempt to identify the artist who painted the Northbrook Madonna, as well as to "explore Raphael's masterful interpretation and the spread of his early style among followers in Central Italy". In October 2019, another previously unknown painting that particularly closely resembles the Northbrook Madonna was offered for auction by

Dorotheum The Dorotheum () is one of the world's oldest auction houses and is the largest auction house of art items in Continental Europe. Established by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, it has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and branches in ...

and was expected to sell for €300,000–400,000 ($US –), ultimately selling instead for $US 2,000,000 (€1,657,190). As of 2021, the museum says the painter of the Northbrook Madonna was possibly Domenico Alfani of

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

, a region of central Italy. Alfani and Raphael were close friends, they had studied together at the school of

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 ...

, and there have also been other instances in which Alfani's work has been incorrectly attributed to Raphael.

Description

History

References

Further reading