Madonna and Child
tempera and oil on wood
64.9 x 50,3 cm
Inv. 55.276
Leonardo da Vinci himself mentions in a document his student called “Gian Pietro,” who can be identified with Giovan Pietro Rizzoli – in his conventional name, Giampietrino –, a painter active in Milan in the first half of the 16th century. Giampietrino, not an artist of innovating and experimenting spirit, borrowed the elements of his pictorial language primarily from his master and his master’s students (Marco d’Oggiono, Cesare da Sesto). The effect of this painting, which has warm tones and lacks decorative elements, is based on the contrast of the dark surfaces and those picked out by the strong light. The forms seem to emerge from the background. The contrived, twisted pose of the Child, his tender caressing gesture, and the search of eye contact with the viewer are features that must have greatly pleased the contemporary commissioners. The fact that the composition survives in several other versions also proves its one time popularity. Only one dated work by Giampietrino has survived (1521); the chronology of his oeuvre is uncertain.
D.S.
