Northern Italian school; second third of the 16th century.

Northern Italian school; second third of the sixteenth century.
"Madonna with Child and St. John".
Oil on panel.
It presents faults and losses in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 40 x 30 cm; 52 x 42 cm (frame).
This oil painting on panel, belonging to the School of the North of Italy of the second third of the XVI century, represents a scene of strong devotional load in which the Virgin Mary holds the Child Jesus while this one interacts with Saint John the Baptist Child. The composition follows the Renaissance model of the "Sacra Conversazione", with the figures arranged in a triangular arrangement that reinforces the visual harmony and symbolic connection between the characters.
The Virgin, with a serene and melancholic expression, delicately holds Jesus, who is standing on a cushion placed on a table. Her posture evokes the concept of the Incarnation and his future Passion. Saint John the Baptist Child, dressed in a simple tunic and accompanied by a phylactery with the inscription "Ecce Agnus Dei" (Behold the Lamb of God).
The pictorial treatment shows the influence of the Lombard and Venetian Renaissance, with an interest in the softness of the contours, the delicate modeling of the faces and the application of a soft light that envelops the figures in an atmosphere of intimacy. The chromatic palette, dominated by warm and earthy tones, together with the detailed work on the folds of the clothing, evidences the technical quality of the painting.
The Northern Italian School played a crucial role in the development of Renaissance and Mannerist art. Cities such as Milan, Parma and Venice were centers of pictorial innovation where the influences of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Venetian masters such as Giorgione and Titian merged. Unlike the Florentine School, with its emphasis on drawing and structure, northern artists explored freer brushwork, sfumato and richer color.
Painters such as Correggio and Parmigianino in Parma, as well as Moretto da Brescia and Giovanni Battista Moroni in Lombardy, brought a technical refinement in the treatment of light and the psychological representation of the characters. These characteristics are reflected in the present work, which shows a particular sensitivity in the expression of the faces and a subtle play of gestures that convey spirituality and emotion.
This type of religious representations not only fulfilled a devotional function in private and ecclesiastical spaces, but also responded to a context of growing demand for accessible and humanized cult images, capable of generating an emotional connection between the viewer and the divinity.