The Madonna and Child

Andrea del Sarto, a leading figure of the High Renaissance, exerted a tremendous influence on Florentine art throughout the sixteenth century. In creating this intimate representation of the Virgin and Child, a painting of his mature period, Andrea is thought to have used his future wife as model. The head of the Infant Christ is also based on a living model, although the sinewy expression of the body follows the sculptural style of the time. A painting with the same composition is held in Ottawa, Canada; presumably it was executed around the same time employing the same cartoon as used for the present work. (Source: Gallery label, July 2016)