Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Description

Throughout most of his working life, Jacopo Bassano remained in his birthplace, the small town of Bassano del Grappa in the mainland territory of the Venetian Republic. The rich colors and textural brushstrokes in his paintings, however, are also characteristic of contemporary painters working in the city of Venice itself. His engagement with the work of two such artists, Titian and Paolo Veronese, is evident in the flickering highlights that here animate the Virgin’s robes and the rich red hanging. The slender proportions of the Madonna’s head and neck, on the other hand, are more characteristic of the highly artificial and refined style known as Mannerism.

Provenance

Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (died 1825), Castle Howard, Yorkshire by 1812, probably acquired between about 1770 and 1790 [according to email from Christopher Ridgway dated 3 September 2004 in curatorial file]; by descent to George James Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (died 1911), Castle Howard, Yorkshire; by descent to his son the Hon. Geoffrey William Algernon Howard (died 1935), Castle Howard, Yorkshire; his estate sale Christie’s, London, 18 February 1944, no. 3, to Agnew’s [according to Agnew’s invoice dated October 9, 1968 in curatorial file]; sold by Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, to Archibald Werner, Newlands, Kent, 17 May 1944 [see letter from Richard Kingzett, 26 April 1989, in curatorial file]; sold Sotheby’s, London, 27 March 1968, no. 27 to Agnew; sold by Thomas Agnew and Sons, London to the Art Institute in 1968.

Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Jacopo Bassano

1560–65

Accession Number

109323

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

79.5 × 90.5 cm (31 1/4 × 35 5/8 in.); Framed: 103.2 × 115.3 × 13.7 cm (40 5/8 × 45 3/8 × 5 3/8 in.)

Classification

oil on canvas

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Wilson L. Mead Fund Income