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Madonna and Child with The Infant Saint John the Baptist

Grazia Leonardo called Leonardo da Pistoia

(Pistoia 1503 - Naples post 1548)

Given the general nature of the subject – a Madonna and Child with the Infant John – it is difficult to identify this painting in the historic Borghese inventories. While some critics have suggested an attribution to Leonardo Grazia of Pistoia, others have proposed the circle of Perin del Vaga, whose decorative style is certainly evident in several details, such as the winged sphinx under Jesus’s foot.


Object details

Inventory
388
Location
Date
Last quarter of 16th century
Classification
Period
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
cm 107 x 82
Frame

Salvator Rosa, 116 x 94.5 x 8 cm

Provenance

Rome, Borghese Collection, ante 1833 (Inventario Fidecommissario 1833, p. 38; Della Pergola 1959); purchased by Italian state, 1902.

Conservation and Diagnostic
  • 1956 Alvaro Esposti;
  • 1996-97 Elena Zivieri, Guido Piervincenzi;
  • 2012 Paola Tollo.

Commentary

The provenance of this painting is still unknown. It was in fact not mentioned in connection with the Borghese Collection until 1833, when the Inventario Fidecommissario of that year listed it as a ‘Holy Family, school of Raphael’. As Paola della Pergola (1959) suggested, it is nonetheless possible that the panel had already been in the family collection for some time, although the general nature of inventory descriptions and the common subject of the work in question make certain identification problematic. 

While Adolfo Venturi (1893) ascribed the work to the young Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, Roberto Longhi (1928) attributed it to a follower of Giulio Romano. For her part, Della Pergola (1959) rejected both theories, suggesting rather the ‘circle Perin del Vaga’, given the nobility and softness of several of the panel’s traits. Ferdinando Bologna (1959) was the first critic to propose an attribution to Leonardo Grazia of Pistoia. His hypothesis was accepted by subsequent critics (Rotili 1972; Savarese 1980; Leone de Castris 1988 and 1996; Herrmann Fiore 2006; for a different opinion, see Corso 2018), with the exception of Anna Bisceglia (1996), who saw the hand of Perin del Vaga in the compositional arrangement and the formal elegance of certain features.

Scholars initially dated the work to the 1540s, given its similarities to the Presentation at the Temple in the church of Monteoliveto (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples; see Bologna 1959); today, however, it is believed to have been executed between the 1520s and 30s (see Leone de Castris 1988; Id. 2019), the period in which Leonardo Grazia blended the manner of Raphael with the purism of the designs of a Siciolante da Sermoneta, while openly imitating the models of the former.

A lost replica of this painting with the addition of the figure of Joseph appears in Federico Zeri’s photo library (photo profile no. 37702; see Corso 2018).

Antonio Iommelli




Bibliography
  • G. Piancastelli, Catalogo dei quadri della Galleria Borghese, in Archivio Galleria Borghese, 1891, p. 313;
  • A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 188;
  • R. Longhi, Precisioni nelle Gallerie Italiane, I, La R. Galleria Borghese, Roma 1928, p. 215;
  • F. Bologna, Rovinale Spagnolo e la pittura napoletana del Cinquecento, Napoli 1959, p. 74;
  • P. della Pergola, La Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, II, Roma 1959, pp. 109-110;
  • M. Rotili, L’Arte del Cinquecento nel Regno di Napoli, Napoli 1972, p. 131;
  • S. Savarese, La Toscana e le arti figurative nel Viceregno di Napoli, in Napoli nel Cinquecento e la Toscana dei Medici, a cura di A. Cirillo Mastrocinque, Napoli 1980, p. 176;
  • P. Leone de Castris, La pittura del Cinquecento nell'Italia meridionale, in La Pittura in Italia. Il Cinquecento, Milano 1988, pp. 443, 487;
  • A. Bisceglia, Esperienze artistiche fuori contesto: da Pistoia al Viceregno di Napoli, in Fra' Paolino e la pittura a Pistoia nel primo '500. L'età di Savonarola, catalogo della mostra (Pistoia, Palazzo Comunale, 1996), a cura di C. D'Afflitto, F. Falletti, A. Muzzi, Venezia 1996, p. 101;
  • P. Leone de Castris, La pittura del Cinquecento a Napoli. 1540-1573. Fasto e devozione, Napoli 1996, pp. 86, 128 nota 12;
  • A. G. De Marchi, in Pietra dipinta. Tesori nascosti del '500 e del '600 da una collezione privata milanese, catalogo della mostra (Milano, Palazzo Reale, 2000-2001), a cura di M. Bona Castellotti, Milano 2000, pp. 60-61, n. 24 (erroneamente citato col numero di inv. 378);
  • R. Cannatà, Grazia, Leonardo, detto il Pistoia, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, LVIII, 2002, ad vocem;
  • K. Herrmann Fiore, Galleria Borghese Roma scopre un tesoro. Dalla pinacoteca ai depositi un museo che non ha più segreti, San Giuliano Milanese 2006, p. 128;
  • A. G. De Marchi, a cura di, Daniele da Volterra e la prima pietra del 'Paragone', Roma 2014, p. 36 nota 11;
  • M. Corso, Le opere e i giorni di Leonardo Grazia da Pistoia tra Lucca, Roma e Napoli, in "Proporzioni", I, 2018, pp. 49, 60 nota 13;
  • P. Leone de Castris, Firenze a Napoli: echi e tracce della pitura toscana nell'arte napoletana di primi Cinquecento, in "Confronto", II, 2019, p. 82.