Follower of Guido Reni

Follower of GUIDO RENI (Calvenzano, Bologna, 1575 - Bologna, 1642), 17th century.
"The Education of the Virgin".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Restored, with patches.
Measurements: 72 x 53 cm; 88 x 74 cm (frame).

The education of the Virgin is a topic that does not arise from the evangelical literature but from the popular will to emphasize the role of the maternal line in the human education of the Son of God, will that also turned Saint Ana into patron saint of the mothers of family. It is therefore a common and traditionally accepted theme, despite the fact that in the Scriptures it is said that the child Virgin was given to the temple for her education. It is an iconography that appears at the end of the Middle Ages and becomes popular from the 16th century onwards, the book appearing from then on as an attribute of Saint Anne. This theme was the center of intense discussions in the intellectual circles of Seville during the Baroque period. Within the counter-reformist doctrine, the Church dictated a series of rules to painters, aimed at regulating the treatment of the most fundamental themes of Catholic doctrine, so that they would be understandable to the people. In particular, the Virgin became one of the most beloved subjects for the Catholic faithful, since her immaculate conception was questioned by Protestants. Hence the proliferation in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the cycles of the Virgin's life, one of whose scenes is the one concerning her education. Although this theme aroused controversy among intellectuals, because it questioned Mary's perfection, it was very much to the taste of the people because of its human and realistic character.