Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John

The painting titled 'Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John' was executed in 1505 by Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina using oil and tempera on panel. Its early ownership is traced to Sir Giles Sebright of Beechwood, Boxmoor and London, who held it until its sale at Christie, Manson & Woods in London on 2 July 1937 (lot 110, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci). The work then passed to dealer Giuseppe Bellesi in London, who sold it to Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi in Florence.

The Samuel H. Kress Foundation acquired the piece in 1938 and gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1939. The dating rests on the documented inception year of 1505; no contemporary record of the original commission survives.

This painting, titled Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John, depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the Christ Child, accompanied by the young Saint John the Baptist. Executed in oil and tempera on a wooden panel, the work exemplifies a common devotional subject. The artist employed a mixed-media approach to achieve visual richness and a notable sense of spatial recession within the composition.

The application of both oil and tempera paints on a panel support reflects a prevalent artistic practice during the era in which this work was created. This mixed-media technique offered artists considerable versatility, enabling them to build up luminous colors and intricate textures. Such methods were fundamental to the development of painting, allowing for greater realism and expressive potential in devotional and narrative works alike.