Madonna with the sleeping Child, follower of Giovan Battista Salvi known as “il Sassoferrato” (1609 – 1685)

18th century Roman painter
Oil painting on canvas
Measurements: canvas 64 x 50 cm, framed 76 x 62 cm.

This delicate depiction of the Madonna in adoration of the Child exhibits all the human dimension and the sweetness of the maternal atmosphere: Mary holds the sleeping child close to her in a tender embrace, who touches her cheek, wrapped and protected by the mantle and even by a flap of the mother's veil.

The pictorial style and composition refer to the sphere of Giovan Battista Salvi, Sassoferrato, who specifically distinguished himself for this subject, with the Virgin immortalized in a humble and strongly earthly pose, depicted with simple white, red and blue colors and delicate plays of shades on faces and hands.

This iconographic prototype was so successful that it became a painting for countless works intended for devotion during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly appreciated for private commissions given its marked sweetness and formal perfection, in particular of the faces.

Born in the Marche region, Salvi developed his activity in Rome, following the dictates of the classicist sacred painting of the Bolognese school of Reni, Carracci and Domenichino, but managing to have an autonomous and therefore clearly distinguishable style.

In very good general condition, some small scattered restorations and some unraveling of the pictorial surface can be seen. Framed in beautiful gold frame.