Scuola romana (XVII) - Madonna con Bambino e angelo

Roman School, 17th century
Virgin with Child and Angel
Oil on canvas, cm 27 x 20

In the examined painting, the Madonna with Child is depicted, with the insertion of an angel who gazes reverently at the child Jesus. The scene is intertwined by a subtle play of glances: the little angel seems to be watching the Son, while He returns the attentive look. The Virgin leans toward the basket full of fruits at her feet. The presence of the angel with fruits could clarify the figurative scene: assuming this is not a simple offering to the newborn, the artist might have proposed an episode from the apocryphal gospels wherein, during the flight to Egypt, some angels came from Heaven to comfort the family. Music, dates, and various fruits would have cheered the hardships of the journey.

The present painting can be linked to a Roman painter of the 17th century, well acquainted with the works of Simon Vouet (Paris, January 9, 1590 – Paris, June 30, 1649), if one considers that the painting reproduces a composition by the French master now conserved at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen. The sacred image, suitable for private devotion, has spread most likely thanks to the prints circulating from shop to shop, as shown by the engraving preserved at the Capodimonte Museum; our image, which appears inverted relative to the original, was therefore taken from a print.

Simon Vouet was a painter and designer who helped bring Italian Baroque to French painters. Vouet's new style was clearly Italian due to his years of study in Italy, between 1613 and 1627, spent mainly in Rome, when Baroque was taking shape. He also visited Venice, Genoa, Naples, and Bologna, where the Carracci worked. Vouet was an academician, studied and absorbed everything around him, and distilled it, including Caravaggio’s dramatic light, Veronese’s colors, and the art of the Carracci, Guercino, and Guido Reni. He was a well-known and respected artist, honored as president of the Roman Academy of Saint Luke, and invited to France by Louis XII.

In Paris, Vouet represented a fresh, dominant force, painted public altarpieces and allegorical decorations for private patrons. His studio formed an entire school of French painters, the generation that followed him, and through him French Baroque took on a classicizing aspect from the start. Among these were some French Baroque artists such as Philippe de Champaigne, Nicolas Poussin, and especially Charles Le Brun, his most important pupil.

The frame is provided as a courtesy gift, therefore it cannot be a reason for return or complaint.

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