After Carlo Maratta, Untitled, Late 17th Century, Oil on Canvas, Framed

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A refined oil painting on canvas depicting the Madonnaand Child, attributed to the workshop of Carlo Maratta (Camerano1625 – Rome … Read more A refined oil painting on canvas depicting the Madonnaand Child, attributed to the workshop of Carlo Maratta (Camerano1625 – Rome 1713), one of the leading figures of late Baroque.
The Virgin, with a gentle and pensive face, barely veiled by aslight shadow of melancholy, gazes intimately at the Infant Jesus, holding himin a gesture of intense protection.
Unlike the more common iconography, the Child is not presented to the viewer, but almost hidden from the outside gaze, in a maternal gesture that seems to anticipate the awareness ofthe Son’s sacrificial destiny.
The composition perfectly embodies the devotional sensibility of the Counter-Reformation: the affectionate naturalness of themother-son relationship blends with a lyrical and composed solemnity, in accordance with that figurative language that aimed to make the sacred more human, closer, and spiritually accessible.
The work derives from a famous prototype of a similar subject created by Carlo Maratta, now preserved at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, reinterpreted here with significant variations in the Virgin’sfeatures, the drapery, and the composition of the background. Compared the softer, more Correggesque atmosphere of the original model, this versionreveals a more mature and naturalistic classicism, typical of Maratta’slate work and that of his circle. Particularly note worthy is the bold foreshortening of the Child, a compositional solution found in the master’s preparatory drawings and testifying to the inventive quality of the original model.
Dimensions:
92 x 79 cm (with frame)
67 x 54.5 cm (without frame) See less