(Florence, active circa 1485–1550)
The Virgin with Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist and two angels,
oil on panel, 83 cm diameter, framed

We are grateful to Filippo Todini for suggesting the attribution for the present painting (written communication).

The present tondo shows the influence of Lorenzo di Credi and his workshop. Indeed, the composition is known in some variants either by Credi himself or by one of his assistants. The most important model is the panel in the Uffizi (Inv. 1890 Nr. 3244, see fig. 1), whilst a probable preparatory drawing is in Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum (Inv. 57, see fig. 2).

The eponymous Madonna, which entered the Fogg Art Museum in Harvard as part of the Naumburg bequest, was originally also believed to be by Lorenzo di Credi, until cleaning revealed the hand of an unknown but highly individual master in the immediate circle of Credi (see Everett Fahy, The Master of the Naumburg Madonna, in: Acquisitions (Fogg Art Museum) No. 1966/1967 [1966–1967], pp. 11-18). Following the identification of this unknown master by Fahy in 1966, scholars have been able to form a group of several devotional paintings which share similar stylistic characteristics.

Todini compares the present painting to the panel in the Fogg Museum and with a tondo in the Richmond Museum of Fine Art (Inv. Nr. 53-18-19, see fig. 3).

Additional pictures
1) Lorenzo di Credi, Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and two angels, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 1890 no. 3244
2) Lorenzo di Credi, Study of a figure, Darmstadt, Landesmuseum
3) The Master of the Naumburg Madonna, Richmond, Museum of Fine Art, inv. no. 53-18-19