(Florence 1486–1530)
Madonna with Child and the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
oil on panel, 60.5 x 37 cm, framed

Provenance:
European private collection

The present composition derives from the lost painting The Porta Pinti Madonna, painted by Andrea del Sarto in fresco, around 1522 for a tabernacle just outside Porta a Pinti in Florence, on a corner leading to the church of the Gesuati (San Giusto alle Mure).

Vasari described the fresco as “una Nostra Donna a sedere con un Putto in collo et un San Giovanni fanciullo che ride, fatto con un’arte grandissima e lavorato in fresco perfettissimamente, stimato molto per la vivezza e per la bellezza sua”, suggesting that the artist had given the Madonna the features of his wife Lucrezia: “E la testa della Nostra Donna è il Ritratto della sua moglie di naturale” (see G. Vasari, Le vite de’ più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue, insino a’ tempi nostri, Firenze 1550, ed. Torino 1986, vol. II, p. 713).

By the 18th century the fresco was badly damaged from exposure to the elements, but it still survived in 1880 (see G. Milanesi in G. Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, Firenze 1568, edited by Milanesi, Florence, 1880, 33, n. 1 ). The most complete picture of the original tabernacle is given by Bottari (see R. Borghini, Il Riposo, preface and notes by G.S. Bottari, Florence 1730, p. 344, n. 1), who together with Baldinucci describes additional figures of saints, possibly painted on the side walls of the tabernacle, as they are not included in any copy (see F. Baldinucci, Notizie de’ Professori del Disegno da Cimabue in qua, Florence 1728, vol, III, p. 205). The work is mentioned by sources among the greatest works of the Cinquecento.

John Shearman listed several copies of the lost fresco: all of them reproduce the figures accurately but show different backgrounds. The most complete composition can be seen in a reduced replica in Birmingham, close in date with the original, and which included a wall behind the Madonna, with a projecting beam-end, also displayed in the present work (Birmingham, Barber Institute, 51x38 cm; see J. Shearman, Andrea del Sarto, London 965, vol. II, p. 248, under no. 59, copies (i), plate 90b).