17 - Andrea LILIO (Ancona 1555 – Ascoli Piceno 1642)

Andrea LILIO (Ancona 1555 – Ascoli Piceno 1642) Virgin and Child Flanked by Saint Anne and Saint Joseph Pen and brown ink over black pencil lines, brown wash, and highlights in white gouache on blue paper. Traced with a stylus. (Small spots and foxing, two small losses along the right edge and in the lower right corner). 20.2 x 25.7 cm This drawing is a preparatory study for the upper section of Andrea Lilio’s altarpiece, *The Madonna of Loreto and the Saints*, housed in the Church of San Francesco alle Scale in Ancona (see: Massimo Pulini, *Andrea Lilio*, Milan, Federico Motta Editore, 2003, p. 179, cat. 96, reproduced on p. 114). The upper part of the painting depicts the Holy House and the Holy Family accompanied by Saint Francis. Above the house, we see the Holy Family from our drawing, with variations in Saint Anne’s arm and the upper part of Saint Joseph’s figure. Our sheet also shows corrections on the heads of the Virgin and Saint Joseph, highlighting Lilio’s preparatory work, which was still in progress. The Virgin’s house in Nazareth, known as the Holy House and later as the House of Loreto, was miraculously transported to the Marche region of Italy following the fall of Saint John of Acre in 1291, marking the end of the medieval Crusades. It is said to have been carried by angels to Loreto, where it became an important pilgrimage site around which the Basilica of Loreto was built.