Madonna and Child with St. Catherine, St. Francis and the Donor
Technical Details
-
Title
Madonna and Child with St. Catherine, St. Francis and the Donor -
Author
Giovan Battista Moroni -
Year
c. 1550 -
Dimensions
cm 102 x 110 -
Inventory
314 -
Room
XVIII
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.
