Lot 1424 R α

After training with Michele Tosini, Francesco Brina specialized in small devotional works intended for private devotion. In the present panel, a good example of his mature production, the main group of the Madonna and the Child closely relates to the posture of the figures in Raphael´s Madonna Bridgewater (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh). The artist often varied the composition and the number of figures, possibly according to the requests of the patrons: Here, he adds the figure of the infant Saint John and sets the scene before a landscape. Another version of the same composition is published in the Federico Zeri Archive, with an attribution to Michele Tosini, Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, Brina´s master.

Brina interpreted Mannerism in its classical declination: Mannerism was born as a reaction to the naturalism of the Maniera Moderna, as a self-consciously elegant style that preferred artifice and daring stylistic solutions. During the late 16th century, while spreading in Europe, in Italy the current took a more classical direction, following the directions of the church, which, challenged by the Protestant reformation, needed to re-connect with the faithful. In place of mannerism's artificial complications, the Counter-Reformation Church required paintings that were direct, emotionally resonant, for conveying the true message of Catholicism.

The present attribution was confirmed to the present owner by professor Alberto Cottino, after firsthand inspection.