The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John

The Virgin holds the Child, who reaches for the fruit in a dish borne by the infant St. John. The composition of the painting is still Mannerist, while the technique indicates Strozzi’s study of contemporary Lombard painting. The areas of light and of shade are patterned against the dark ground, on which the artist laid his rich, brilliant colours with dense brushstrokes, almost as if applied with the spatula.
Flemish influences are visible in the dish of fruit and in the domestic atmosphere suggested by the reddened faces, as if the three figures were next to a fireplace.
The canvas, painted between 1615 and 1618, is an early work by Bernardo Strozzi, known as il Cappuccino because he had been a Capuchin friar until 1608.