Madonna and Child with St. Charles Borromeo and St. Bartholomew

The Virgin and Child occupy the celestial, upper half of this two-tiered altarpiece. Surrounded by angels, they are bathed in heavenly light. The darker, terrestrial half shows St. Charles Borromeo on the left, extending his arms in exaltation. On the right, St. Bartholomew is enraptured by the vision above. Between them, two child angels or putti inspect the attributes of the latter’s brutal martyrdom.

Lanfranco painted this altarpiece in 1616–17 for the church of San Lorenzo in Piacenza. The painting is indebted to his Emilian predecessors Bartolomeo Schedoni and especially the Carracci. Yet already Lanfranco reveals a predilection for flamboyant gestures and vivid emotions. His new exuberant style made him a leading painter in Rome but also in Naples, where he became the highest paid artist of the seventeenth century.