GIROLAMO GENGA

(1476 / 1551)

GIROLAMO GENGA Urbino, Italy (1476) / La Valle, Italy (1551) "The Virgin with Child and Saint John"

Oil on panel. (Tondo) On the reverse, attached to the support, old label with collection number "299". Girolamo Genga was a prominent Italian painter of the Cinquecento who is credited with introducing the forms of Roman Mannerism to the Umbria region. His initial training was with Luca Signorelli and later with Perugino, developing his production in different cities such as Florence, Siena or Rome. This tondo, depicting the Madonna and Child with Saint John, has many formal debts with Raphael's famous Madonnas; although it is totally imbued with Genga's particular style, showing figures that, far from being idealized, are much more earthly and completely devoid of sumptuous elements. Unlike Raphael, who preferred to use a broad and bright colour palette, this artist sought simplification in the colouring of his works, in which the figures emerge from a dark background with an animation that is one of his hallmarks. Dimensions: 62 cm in diameter