Artwork
Madonna and Child with Saints and Donors
Madonna and Child with Saints and Donors is an oil painting by the High Renaissance artist Sebastiano del Piombo. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Kneeling donors in sumptuous dress press toward the Virgin and Christ Child in this early panel attributed to the young Sebastiano del Piombo, whose Venetian palette of saturated reds and deep greens glows against a dark ground. The Met's curators note the slightly awkward composition as evidence of the painter's formative years, before he left Venice for Rome in 1510 and became Michelangelo's collaborator. Soft, tonal modeling of flesh and the telltale reddish-brown ground layer visible between color blocks point toward the same hand that would later execute major commissions for Pope Clement VII.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on a wooden panel, a support associated with Venetian-school works. It is dated to 1600 and attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo. The dimensions are 67.3 × 102.9 cm. No information on condition or surface handling is provided in the sources.
History & Provenance
Josephine Bieber later owned the work before it entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The painting, attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo, is dated to 1600. Its recorded provenance begins with Johann Ludwig, Imperial Count of Wallmoden-Gimborn, passing to Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, then to Bernhard Hausmann, followed by Georg V of Hanover and Ernst August, Crown Prince of Hanover. Josephine Bieber later owned the work before it entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Overview
This painting, attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo, is considered among his earliest extant works. Executed in oil on wood, it dates from his Venetian period, likely between 1507 and 1510, before his departure for Rome. The composition presents a traditional sacra conversazione, featuring the Madonna and Christ Child flanked by saints, with two kneeling donors depicted in devotion.
Subject & Meaning
The panel illustrates a sacra conversazione, a common devotional theme in which sacred figures appear together in a unified space. At the center, the Virgin Mary holds the Christ Child, surrounded by various saints. Two individuals, likely the patrons who commissioned the piece, kneel reverently at the foreground, their presence integrating them into the holy assembly.
Context
Created during Sebastiano del Piombo's formative years in Venice, this painting predates his significant move to Rome in 1511. In the papal city, he would forge a close working relationship with Michelangelo and receive major commissions, including altarpieces for Pope Clement VII. The Venetian techniques evident here, such as the distinctive ground layer and tonal modeling, were practices he carried to his new artistic environment.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian:; c. 1485 – 21 June 1547) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods, famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian…
