(born in Crete or Rhodes? active in Venice in the first half of the 16th Century)
The Madonna and Child with Saint Anne, Saint Francis and the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
tempera on panel laid down on canvas, 55 x 75.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Antichità La Pieve, Sabbio Chiese, Brescia;
where acquired by the present owner;

We are grateful to Maria Paphiti for her help in cataloguing the present painting.

The present painting can be compared to three known signed works by Giovanni Permeniatis (see M. Chatzidakis/E. Drakopoulou, Greek Artists After the Fall [1453–1830], vol. 2, Athens 1997, p. 289), and the present lot can be attributed to him on the basis of iconographic and stylistic features. The artist’s works reveal that he was conversant with the traditional Byzantine principles, as seen on a pair of paintings that portray Christ Pantocrator and the Mother of God with Child from the Byzantine Museum of Kastoria, and also with the style of icon painting that combine Byzantine and Western elements, as exemplified by the monumental panel of the Nursing Virgin flanked by Saints John the Baptist and Augustin in the Correr Museum in Venice (see op. cit. Chatzidakis/Drakopoulou, 1997, p. 290). The latter trend was developed in areas inhabited by Orthodox populations that were dominated by the Venetians. One of the preeminent such places was Crete, therefore Permeniatis has often been assumed to have originated from there. Recent research, however, has suggested that he was probably from the island of Rhodes (K. Kefala, Concerning a Probable Work of the Painter Ioannes Permeniatis at Patmos, in: Deltion of the Christian Archaeological Society, Series IV, vol. 37, Athens 2016, p. 150–151). Even though the place and year of his birth are unknown, a written reference in the Venetian archives testifies that in 1523 he was active in Venice (see op. cit. Chatzidakis/Drakopoulou, 1997, p. 289).

The painting presented here demonstrates the artist’s ability to skillfully paint both in Byzantine and Western manner. The built up and shading of the flesh-tones together with the luminous brushstrokes, as well as the geometrical interpretation of the drapery and fine rendition of the golden details on the garments of the Child, clearly attest to his knowledge of Byzantine art and are, indeed, comparable with his signed icons from the Museum in Kastoria (five more icons of Byzantine style, though unsigned, were identified and attributed to Permeniatis, see M. Voulgaropoulou, Post-byzantine icon-painting in the Adriatic rim: the case of Ioannes Permeniatis, in: Egnatia, 14/2010, 195–210). On the other hand, the replacement of the traditional gold background with a naturalistically rendered scenery, the Western type garments of the Madonna and Saint Anne and the inclusion of the Catholic Saint Francis prove that the artist was consciously capable of selecting and harmoniously introducing elements from both traditions in his innovative compositions. Certain features, such as the detailed rendering of the foliage, the lake, the boats with the characteristic curved sail, the small animals and bucolic scenes, the architecture of the minute structures in the background and the castles atop the mountains, also appear on other works by Permeniatis (regarding the landscapes in Permeniatis’ icons and their suggested relation to the contemporary Venetian painting, see E. Charchare, Delightful Landscapes: Elements of Greco-Roman Tradition in the Work of the Post-Byzantine Painter Ioannes Permeniatis, in: Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art, V, St. Petersburg, 2015, p. 298–302). Such examples include the icons of the Adoration of the Magi from the Benaki Museum in Athens (see N. Chatzidakis, The Adoration of the Magi: an icon by the Greek Painter of the early Renaissance, in: Euphrosynon, Athens 1992, vol. II, p. 713–39), the Madonna and Child and Saint John from Patmos, (see op. cit. Kefala, 2016, p. 138), the painting from the National Gallery in Prague (see fig. 1), as well as a third icon which was sold at Pandolfini, Florence, on 17th December 2008 as lot 840. The book carried by Saint Francis is identical to that of Saint Augustine on the icon from the Correr Museum, as is the embroidery on the neckline of the Madonna, which is in fact, a typical motif used by Permeniatis on several occasions.

The main subject of the painting, the Madonna and Child and the Infant Saint John, is a non-canonical subject. The Baptist stated twice that he had never met Christ prior to the event of the Baptism (John 1:31-33). Their joint depiction as children has no precedents in Byzantine art, but the subject is frequently depicted in Renaissance pictures. It was a popular subject for Permeniatis and he painted it in variations on several occasions, either as a standalone composition as is the case of the Patmos’ panel or complemented by saints, as in the present painting, and the work in the National Gallery of Prague mentioned above, as well as a further painting from a private collection (illustrated in op. cit. K. Kefala, 2016, footnote 3, ill. 5). The garments of the Child and the figure of Saint Francis are extremely similar to the painting conserved in Prague, while the gesture of the Child of giving the cross to Saint John is located on the privately-owned painting.

The present painting is a significant example of Permeniatis’ artistic production. The skillful execution as seen in the balanced composition, the well-proportioned figures and the fine painting of the entire work exude an artistic confidence that suggests that this painting was created at a mature stage in the artist’s career. It was probably executed later than the work in the Correr Museum, which has a stiffer structure and is less liberated in terms of the colouring. In conclusion, the present lot is a fine work which contributes a new addition to the known production by Giovanni Permeniatis, as well as to the group of artworks that were produced by Byzantine trained artists, who worked in the fertile cultural environment of Venice and its colonies.