Artwork
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist is an oil painting by the Early Baroque Italian artist Orsola Maddalena Caccia. It dates from 1625 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a work of religious art, the piece centers on the holy family dynamic, visually uniting Jesus and his cousin John in their infancy under Mary's care.
Executed in 1625, this religious oil painting by Orsola Maddalena Caccia depicts a traditional Christian grouping known as the Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist. The composition features the Virgin Mary alongside the Christ Child and the young John the Baptist. As a work of religious art, the piece centers on the holy family dynamic, visually uniting Jesus and his cousin John in their infancy under Mary's care.
The iconography serves to represent the sacred bond between these central figures of Christian theology, focusing specifically on the interaction between the divine child and the future prophet during their early years.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting executed on canvas, dating to 1625 and attributed to Orsola Maddalena Caccia. The canvas support was primed and the image built up with oil pigments, a technique typical of early‑17th‑century Italian religious art. Caccia employed a naturalistic composition in which the Virgin embraces the infant Christ, while the infant John the Baptist and Mary are positioned nearby, creating an intimate devotional grouping.
The formal arrangement emphasizes the centrality of the Madonna and Child, with delicate chiaroscuro modeling that highlights the figures against a muted background, reflecting the devotional emphasis of the genre.
History & Provenance
The painting Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Orsola Maddalena Caccia is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, under accession number 2020.263.3. The available sources do not record any exhibition history for this work.
Overview
This oil painting, titled Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, presents a revered religious subject. It depicts the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, accompanied by the young Saint John the Baptist. The figures are positioned within a natural setting, where a dark, dense forest transitions into a more expansive landscape featuring a river and distant structures. The artwork is characterized by its balanced composition and the deliberate use of light and shadow.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Orsola Maddalena Caccia, born Theodora Caccia (1596–1676) was an Italian mannerist painter and Catholic nun. She painted religious images, altarpieces, and still lifes.
- Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Madonna and Child with John the Baptist
Madonna and Child with The Infant Saint John the Baptist
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist
The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John
Madonna and Child with Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist