Lombard school; first half of the 16th century. "Madonna... Lot 34

Lombard school; first half of the 16th century. "Madonna and Child. Oil on panel. Attached export permit. Measurements: 62 cm x 83 (frame). In this tondo the artist presents a traditional scene in the history of art with the Virgin with the Child in her arms, accompanied by Saint John child, a representation that combines the devotional character with the tenderness that evokes the mother with the two little ones. This dual character explains the extraordinary success of this type of representation throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Although on many occasions the group of figures is set in a landscape, often accompanied by other figures such as Saint Anne or Saint Joseph, Raphael chose to situate his figures in an interior of which, however, he does not offer any details, limiting himself to the figures themselves. The piece is clearly inspired by the aesthetic models of Raphael de Sanzio, in particular the Madonna of the Chair, the artist would have been inspired for this beautiful figure of Mary by a humble peasant girl whom he would have seen tenderly embracing her son on a walk in Velletri. Struck by the girl's beauty, he immediately made a chalk sketch that he would later use for this and other compositions. Raphael's work takes the form of a tondo as in this case and was painted approximately between 1513-1514, during the artist's Roman period. It displays a new warmth, both in the composition and in the colour range, different from that used throughout the artist's Florentine period, probably due to the influence of Titian, among others. The Lombard school is a rarity within Italian painting as it does not have the characteristics that unify it with others such as the Roman or Venetian schools. Within this northern school, various sub-schools can be distinguished, centred on the cities of Milan, Genoa, Piedmont, Bologna, Cremona, Modena, Ferrara and Parma. However, the term Lombard school is often identified with the Milanese school. Milanese painting was revived through local collaboration, linked to the late Lombard Renaissance, with artists from other localities, particularly Cremona, where Carlo Francesco Nuvolone's father was from. The activity of the Accademia Ambrosiana thus consolidated a particular and idiosyncratic style. The interest in Mannerism was abandoned in favour of a Baroque art with a great interest in capturing dynamism, which in many cases advocated narrativity.