Madonna and Child with St. Catherine, St. Francis and the Donor

Giovan Battista Moroni

Download hi-res image TITLE Madonna and Child with St. Catherine, St. Francis and the Donor
AUTHOR Giovan Battista Moroni
DATE c. 1550
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Oil on canvas
TECNICA OPERA olio su tela
DIMENSIONS cm 102 x 110
INVENTORY 314
ROOM XVIII
Work on display

This picture, painted for the church of Sant’Alessandro in Bergamo, is one of the earliest examples of an iconographical formula that was to become Moroni’s stock-in-trade. The realistically portrayed donor, deep in prayer, is separated by a balustrade from the saints to whom he is turning. The publication of St. Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises in 1546 contributed to the popularity of this kind of composition that hinted at the heavenly figures’real presence, albeit in a different space.