Madonna (Virgo Advocata)

The panel was donated to the Civic Museum of Como in 1905 by Giovanni Antonio Galli di Rondineto, who had bought it during a trip to Spain. The news of its Iberian provenance, which is important to the debate
on the authorship of this painting, is also confirmed by the sketched figures painted on the back of the panel, clearly inspired by the painting of Francisco Goya. At the time of the donation, the subject was identified as a “portrait of a nun,” but later the hypothesis of a Virgin Annunciate prevailed. More recently, on the basis of the fact that the Virgin’s face is less than youthful, it has been suggested that she is a Virgo advocata, a Marian image to whom people turn to obtain graces. Attribution of this panel with its gold background has long been a source of fascination to art historians. On the one hand there are scholars who are convinced that it is the first work by Antonello da Messina. On the other hand, some experts consider it to be the work of a painter rooted in the figurative culture of Valencia, which at this time was largely influenced by Flemish painting. Its provenance from Spain, the use of punches identical to those used by painters working in Valencia to decorate the gold background, and the sharp technique, with an almost cold and optical definition of detail, make it highly likely that it was painted by a painter of Iberian-Flemish culture such as Jacomart Baço.(P. Vanoli)