The Virgin and Child with two Angels

The painting displays the style of Bergognone, in his very precise technical handling of the finely veiled colour and in the use of lacquers. The colouring is extremely refined, with subtle gradations from red to orange.
The painting is notable for its singular balance between the archaism of the composition and the great modernity in the rendering of the details of anatomy and the outlines of the faces. The composition, with the Child tenderly close to Mary’s face, is related to an archaic model, with fourteenth-century origins, and which Vincenzo Foppa had already used around 1480s.
The painting is dated to Bergognone’s early career, at a time when his work was still strongly influenced by Foppa.