Lot number 3507 - Auction 155
MARIA MIT DEM KIND, FLANKIERT RECHTS VON JOHANNES DEM TÄUFER UND LINKS VON DER HEILIGEN KATHARINA

PIETRO PERUGINO (CIRCLE / FOLLOWER) 1446 Città della Pieve - 1523 Fontignano MADONNA AND CHILD, FLANKED AT RIGHT BY JOHN THE BAPTIST AND AT LEFT BY SAINT CATHERINE Tempera on poplar panel (cradled). 87.5 x 65 cm. Pinpoint paint losses across the surface, part. old rest., old retouching, rubbed. Frame probably of the 18th century, in the Renaissance style. In a calm and balanced composition, the painting depicts the Madonna with the Christ Child, flanked by Saint Catherine and John the Baptist, set before an architectural structure and an expansive, light-filled landscape. The gently idealised faces, the lowered gaze of the Virgin, as well as the harmonious colouring and clear arrangement of the figures are closely related in style to the Umbrian-Florentine Early Renaissance, and in particular to the work of Pietro Perugino and his circle. The painting conveys a timeless, contemplative devotion and follows the classical type of the Sacra Conversazione, in which Catherine of Alexandria, as a symbol of her spiritual bond with God, offers or receives a ring from the Christ Child. Provenance: Private collection, Amsterdam.