Friday, December 25, 2015

Italian Madonnas

Caravaggio
Madonna & Child with St. Anne
ca. 1606
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Caravaggio
Madonna & Child with St. Anne (detail)
ca. 1606

Under her left foot the Madonna crushes the serpent of original sin while the foot of the Christ Child presses down on top of her own. The child's commanding left-handed gesture of dismissal directed toward the snake is safely supervised by a parent who makes sure to remain in discreet control.  

Caravaggio
Madonna & Child with St. Anne (detail)
ca. 1606

Caravaggio
Nativity with St. Francis & St. Lawrence
ca. 1609
Oratory of San Lorenzo, Palermo (former location, missing since the 1960s)

Caravaggio
Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1609
Museo Regionale, Messina

Caravaggio
Madonna of the Rosary
ca. 1607
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Caravaggio
Madonna of the Rosary (deatil)
ca. 1607

Caravaggio
Madonna of the Rosary (detail)
ca. 1607

Caravaggi's Madonnas emerge from darkness (as above) and the Madonnas of Caravaggio's followers also emerge from darkness (as below).

Orazio Gentileschi
Madonna & Child 
ca. 1604
Barberini Gallery, Rome

Luca Giordano
Holy Family with St. John the Baptist
ca. 1665
Prado

Bartolomeo Cavarozzi
Holy Family with St. Catherine
ca. 1617-19
Prado

Simone Cantarini
Holy Family
ca. 1645
Prado

Guido Reni
Madonna of the Chair
ca. 1624-25
Prado

Especially for the Spanish market, Pietro da Cortona (below) produced a nativity without the traditional night sky. Instead he used a glittering metallic surface-treatment that must have surprised and delighted many people and disgusted many others.

Pietro da Cortona
Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1656
Prado