Circle of Andrea Belvedere (Naples, 1646/52-1732), Garland of flowers with Madonna with child

Circle of Andrea Belvedere (Naples, 1646/52-1732), second half of the XNUMXth century

Garland of flowers with Madonna breastfeeding the Child, Saint Joseph and angels

Oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm

With frame, 90 x 78 cm

With Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Paul Rubens the inviolate wonder of the natural data met the religious narrativism of sacred characters: the practice of framing the main subject through an exuberant crown of flowers found natural diffusion in Flemish reality in response to the Protestant Reformation. The concomitant denial of the depiction of the Madonna, modern Western iconoclasm, had in fact encouraged the inclusion of prohibited religious icons within a prudent but suggestive vegetal screen, always welcomed by reformists. 

In the present painting Saint Joseph delicately peeps out from the left shoulder of the Virgin, softly shaded in the warm, full-bodied air, while on the opposite side a trio of tender little angels make their appearance, also immersed in the burnished blanket on which the artist stands out the main subjects of the composition: the Virgin breastfeeding the Child. 

The double hand of the painting is expressed in the creation of the human figures and in the splendid flowered garland, pertaining to the well-tested Flemish pictorial tradition which subsequently originated in Neapolitan soil. The canvas can in fact be traced back to the sphere of Andrea Belvedere, who was able to directly observe the work of Abraham Brueghel who arrived in Naples from Rome in 1672. The influence of these and of the more up-to-date Flemish lesson, indebted at the time to the essential work of Frans Snyders, is evident in the tireless typological differentiation of the flowers intertwined in triumph. The artist never forgot the material implosions typical of Neapolitan culture, which he converted in the field of naturamorphism to a precise revision of the portrayed subjects. Similarly happens in the present painting: the lenticular definition of the vegetal bodies, subtly tapered and perfected in the punctual luminism that agitates the frayed filaments, clearly testifies to the legacy of the Belvedere. Dedicated from a young age to flower paintings (this is the case of Carnations with Tulips in a Glass Bottle in the Museo Correale di Terranova in Sorrento), the artist encountered large audiences and large commissions until his departure for Spain due to his innovative ability of digital light distribution. The move to Spain, which took place at the request of King Charles II, did not slow down his predilection for teaching: champions such as Gaspare Lopez and Tommaso Realfonso took successful artistic steps from his workshop. 

The object is in good condition

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