The Madonna and an Angel Adoring the Child, tempera on canvas, laid down on panel, 66 x 46.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Dortmund
We are grateful to Professor Filippo Todini for suggesting the attribution for the present painting.

This compostion would most probably have been intended for private worship, or display on the altar of a family chapel. The image is extremely unusual; the Madonna is dressed with great elegance in the fashion of the courts of Northern Italy of the late 15th Century, around 1490. She is depicted kneeling with hands folded across her chest in adoration of the Child, together with an angel with long blond hair who is also richly dressed. The scene takes place against the backdrop of a cloth of green brocade, while the baby Jesus is depicted lying on a marble parapet and rests upon a richly decorated pillow. The courtly tone is accentuated by the gilding and meticulous rendering of details, as well as the painstaking portrayal of the different qualities of the fabrics. The reference to a specific devotional event, at the request of a client of high social standing would appear probable.

This hitherto unpublished work was traditionally attributed to Giovanni Francesco Maineri, which is indicative of its cultural origin. Stylistically it displays a strong influence of Ferrarese painting and is closely related to the working methods of Lorenzo Costa, together with a subtle classicist inflection that also approaches the language of the young Boccaccino, who was active in Ferrara from 1497. The Child’s physical features, his compact and curved shaping, appear to demonstrate a direct rather than mediated knowledge of Perugino’s prototypes. All of these are elements that come together to produce a vibrant and highly individual work.

The present painting may be compared to Bernardino’s earlier works, such as the Madonna enthroned between Saints Mary Magdalene and Christina from the Kress Foundation in New York (see F. Rusk Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Italian Schools XV-XVI Century, London 1968, pp. 68/69) or the two versions of the Madonna enthroned between Saints Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria: (see. R. Roli, Sul problema di Bernardino e Francesco Zaganelli, in: Arte Antica e Moderna , 31–32 (1965), p. 232, fig. 80b), the latter now part of the Lederer Collection in Geneva (Roli, 1965, p. 235, fig. 84b; R. Zama, Gli Zaganelli, Rimini 1994, pp. 105-106; A. De Marchi, in Ioanes Ispanus: la pala di Viadana. Tracce di classicismo lungo la Valle del Po, exhibition catalogue, Viadana (Mantua) 2006, pp. 146–153). There is also a particular affinity of pictorial execution and typology with the large alter piece, depicting the Virgin enthroned between Angels and Saints Jerome, Lucy, Anthony Abate and Agnes once part of the Gavotti Collection in Genoa (Zama, 1994, pp. 139-142), painted by Bernardino Zaganelli for the high altar of the Oratory of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Cotignola, the so-called ‘Sforza sepulchral chapel’ erected in 1495 at the Church of St. Francis at the will of Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan and Lord of Cotignola.

Todini has dated the present painting to around 1495 and believes it to be important evidence of Bernardini Zaganelli´s artistic training in Ferrara. The work is important in understanding his artistic career, which was largely independent of his brother Francesco.

The Madonna’s face in the present composition exhibits highly individual traits and it is possible to note the remarkable likeness between the gentlewoman depicted in this painting under the guise of the Madonna and the well-known portraits of the Duchess Beatrice d’Este, who died in childbirth in 1497.

We are grateful to Professor Todini for his help in cataloguing this lot.