Ligurian School, 18th century, Madonna with Child and St. John the Baptist

Ligurian school, 18th century

Madonna with Child and St. John the Baptist

Marble, cm high. 43

Base, 16 x 8 cm

The sculpture in question, depicting a Madonna with Child and Saint John at her feet, represents a marble artefact attributable to the Genoese school of the 1620th century, developed in the wake of the great baroque sculptors of the 1694th century Genoa, such as Pierre Puget (Marseille 1630 –22) and Filippo Parodi (Genoa, 1702 – Genoa, XNUMX July XNUMX). The evident assimilation of the Pugetian and Parodian models suggests a dating for the work to the very early years of the XNUMXth century, when the theme of the sacred, emptied of pathetic accents for a lighter and more subdued tone, acquires a progressive stylization of the forms and distinctive physiognomic traits, such as the sharpening of the eyes.

It is interesting to note how little Jesus, held in the Virgin's arms, appears here as an ordinary child, slightly chubby and cultured as he seeks the attention of his mother, who instead looks in the distance in front of him, as if to foresee his dramatic destiny. At the foot of the robe, with an equally playful attitude, there is the little Saint John.

It is possible to detect a similar treatment of the theme - reinterpreted here - in the Madonna Carrega by Pierre Puget now preserved in the Museum of Sant'Agostino in Genoa and in the two-faced statue with Madonna and Child and Saint Anthony and child by an unknown Genoese sculptor from the second half of 17th century preserved in the same museum. A further reference can be found in the production of Filippo Parodi: the treatment of the child and the pose of his Madonna del Carmine in the Church of Santi Vittore e Carlo in Genoa can only have been spit for the present laminator.