École SIENNOISE de la fin du XVe - début du XVIe siècle, atelier de Benvenuto di GIOVANNI

Holy Family with St. Clare and St. John the Baptist child with symbols of the Eucharist and Baptism 69 x 42 cm In a neo-Gothic carved and gilded wood frame (93 x 57 cm) The style of this panel reflects the artistic culture of the 15th-century Sienese school, dominated by the influence of Lorenzo di Pietro, known as Il Vecchietta (Castiglione d'Orcia, near Siena, 1410 - Siena 1480) and Giovanni di Paolo (Siena, 1398 - 1482). The choice of an asymmetrical composition, more dilated volumes, less graphic contours and looser forms suggest that our artist may have been familiar with the works that Luca Signorelli (Cortona, after 1441 - 1523) and Pinturicchio (Perugia 1454 - Siena 1513) executed for Siena in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. At that time, the city's most fashionable workshop was that of Benvenuto di Giovanni (Siena 1436 - 1518 circa) and his son Girolamo di Benvenuto (Siena 1470 - 1524). Our panel should have been made in this workshop. The iconography of our panel is very rare and, unless we are mistaken, has no similarities in other paintings. It would appear to have been the result of a very special commission for a private devotion. In a very intimate atmosphere, an angel appears in the sky carrying a loaf of bread in his hands: this would be the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:58: "This is the bread that came down from heaven .... whoever eats of this bread will live forever"). On the left, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph with St. Clare of Assisi are contemplating the infant Jesus and the infant John the Baptist, on the right. The latter are standing next to each other, one dressed in red, the color of the Passion, the other in an animal-skin tunic tied at the waist, each holding a small jug. Jesus' would contain the wine (John 15:1-8: "I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing"). The jug of the infant John the Baptist, on the other hand, would contain the water: it is tilted in the action of the baptizer. Above Jesus' head appears a river, a possible allusion to the Jordan in whose waters he had been baptized. Our painting is a perfect example of the inexhaustible iconographic richness and skill of artistic workshops in the ancient Italian states, and of the force of attraction that early religious painting still manages to arouse. . We would like to thank Mr. Angelo Loda for suggesting this interpretation of the subject. H: 69 x W: 42 cm