| Alessandro Bonvicino, called "il Moretto", in his "Madonna with Child and the Young St John" blends Lombard influences with the new stylistic elements of Venetian painting. His Madonna sits in front of an Italian townscape reminiscent of Giorgione (c. 1470–1510), while the grass, richly covered with flowers, is suggestive of contemporary millefleurs carpets. Ruined architecture was one of the popular scenic devices used in this and similar pictures with the Madonna and Child. The landscape is now no longer a background setting with miniature architectural elements, but defines the space in which the figures move. In a way that viewers can grasp, the terrain develops continuously from the foreground into the background. The harmonious character of the picture is due to the balanced proportions of its individual elements. A carefully matched colour scheme logically anchors the powerful colouring of the Madonna’s robe in the overall design, and has it taken up elsewhere in the picture. The staff with cross in the boy John’s hand anticipates the Passion of Christ. His blossoming wreath is repeated as a victor’s wreath in an aureole in the sky. The inscription “HIC ARMIS VICTOR DE ORBE” TRIUMPHABIS (You will triumph over the earth with these weapons, victorious one) alludes to Christ’s victory over death. Moretto’s authorship is not confirmed by a signature, but the compositional scheme and individual motifs typical of Moretto suggest that attribution to him is justified. |
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