Madonna of the Jasmine

The Virgin, enclosed in a niche of jasmine plants which seem to protect the sleep of the Child, is treated with psychological refinement, and the pose of the Child is tenderly realistic. Behind them the backgroud opens upon a turreted gothic town and a panoramic view of a lake or sea. The picture comes from the church of San Francesco di Paola where it was enframed like a relic in the center of a baroque altarpiece by Dario Pozzo as the vision of Saint Philip Neri.