Madonna and Child,
oil on panel, 39 x 28 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Henriette Hertz (1846–1913), Palazzo Zuccari, Rome;
Collection of Ernesto Tucci, Palazzo Zuccari, Rome, 1920;
thence by descent in the family;
art market, Italy;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
I. P. Richter, La Collezione Hertz e gli affreschi di Giulio Romano nel Palazzo Zuccari, Rome 1928, p. 56, no. 44 (as Manner of Pintoricchio)

The present painting was once part of the collection of Henriette Hertz, an intellectual, patron and founder of the Hertziana Library in Rome. This small panel has remained unknown to scholars, and has been, until recently, in the same private property by direct descent. It is a fine example of Umbrian painting around 1500, in the direct circle of Perugino and the young Raphael.

The recent restoration, which removed layers of yellowed paint and old retouching, revealed that this is an unfinished work, in which some areas have received a first layer of paint, while others have remained in the preparatory drawing state. The graphic layout, executed with extreme confidence, shows clear technical and stylistic links with both Perugino’s drawings, and, in particular those of the young Raphael and his closest circle. The golden halo and elongated face of the Madonna indicate knowledge of Pinturicchio’s work, while the compositional scheme reworks similar compositions by Perugino without referring to a specific model.

The definition of form and the use of colour create a powerful sense of volume. There are stylistic affinities with some drawings attributed to the young Raphael or to his first direct followers, such as the sheet with a Studies for a Madonna with Child and an Angel in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. no. 497E) and Five Putti in various poses in the Lehman Collection, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1975.1.395).

This painting also relates to the Madonna and Child in a Landscape, formerly in the collection of the Margrave of Baden, by a follower of Perugino and tentatively attributed to the young Raphael, around 1500 (see B. L. Brown, in: s. a., An Art Odyssey 1500–1680, London 2001, pp. 48ff), of which a second, smaller version is known, formerly in the Collection of Otto Wesendonk von Bissing, attributed to the circle of the young Raphael (sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 26 January 2012, lot 16).