Italian or Spanish school of the 17th century.

Italian or Spanish school of the XVII century.
"Virgin and Child with bird".
Oil on paper glued to board.
Measurements: 22,5 x 14 cm.

This devotional painting probably belongs to the Italian Cinquecento, although it could also be of Spanish school. In any case, it adopts the dominant compositional patterns in the Florentine Renaissance, appreciable in the resource of the window to the bottom and in the tenderness that shows a young Virgin in her way of tilting her face and approaching it to the Child Jesus. This one holds a small bird, that in spite of not being a dove probably symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and with it the triple nature of God. The use of the bird as an element of play for the Christ Child instead of being shown as a supernatural element began to become popular in this period. See the painting of Boccaccio Boccaccino of the same period. A resource that in the seventeenth century Murillo will adapt in a domestic and sacred scene at the same time. The painting in question is also characterized by the softness of the physiognomic features of Mary and the child, as well as by the careful finish of the fabrics.