1505
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Saint Cecilia, and Angels is a 1505 oil by Piero di Cosimo, a Early Renaissance work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
This painting shows the Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and angels. The scene is peaceful, with Jesus eating plums offered by John. Piero di Cosimo adds a unique touch with the wingless angels and Saint Cecilia singing from a music book. The artist uses shadows to create depth around the figures. Check out the work of artist Piero di Cosimo.
Piero di Cosimo was known as one of the most unorthodox artists in Renaissance Florence. His paintings enliven traditional themes through imaginative inventions. Here, John the Baptist offers plums to the infant Jesus, who eagerly devours one while another lies half-eaten on the ground. At right, Saint Cecilia, patron of musicians, sings from a book of music, while wingless angels look on in the background. The shadowed effect in the figures surrounding the Virgin and Child indicate that Piero altered his plans for the composition after he had begun painting: He added them on top of the dark…
Private collection, Scotland; acquired by Madame Miriam Gilou-Cendrars and her husband, Albert Gilou, early 1930s; Gilou-Cendrars collection, France; sold Roubaix, France, J. Mercier, J. Velliet, D. Thullier, F. Issaly, June 18, 1989, lot 84; bought by Richard L. Feigen Co., New York; sold to the Art Institute, 2007.
Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, July 2001–March 2003 Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Piero di Cossimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florance, February 1-May 3, 2015, cat. 27; Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, June 23-September 27, 2015.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Piero di Cosimo, also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, who continued to use an essentially Early Renaissance style into the 16th century.
See the richer artist page
