MASSIMO STANZIONE
(Orta di Atella ca. 1585 – ca. 1656 Naples)

Madonna and Child

Signed with artist’s device, lower right: EQ. MAX

Oil on canvas
24 ½ x 20 ¼ inches (61.6 x 51.4 cm)

Provenance:

Sotheby’s, London, 3 April 1985, lot 237, as Massimo Stanzione
Private Collection, Italy and Venezuela; and by descent to:
Private Collection, Florida.

Literature:

Sebastian Schütze and Thomas Willette, Massimo Stanzione: L’opera Completa, Naples, 1992, p. 195, cat. no. A94, fig. 328.

The great rival of Jusepe de Ribera, Massimo Stanzione ranks among the leading painters in Naples in the first half of the 17th century. Although Stanzione trained in Naples with Fabrizio Santafede and Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, his most important sources of artistic influence were the works of Bolognese painters. The artist evidently travelled frequently between Naples and Rome before 1630, which provided him the opportunity to study the major frescoes and altarpieces by the Carracci, Guido Reni, and Domenichino in the Eternal City. This had a profound impact on the development of his distinctive style and ultimately earned him the nickname “il Guido Reni napoletano.”

The present Madonna and Child is a characteristic late work by Stanzione. Likely intended for a private patron, our painting is intimate both in scale and in its treatment of the subject—the artist’s remarkable skill for evoking the tender bond between mother and child is on full display. The Virgin Mary is here shown seated in three-quarter profile as she holds the Christ Child in her arms. Posed against a stark backdrop, the Virgin has an almost monumental presence, expressed through the wide span of her flowing drapery, which nearly fills the compositional field. She inclines her head while peering out of the painting, directly engaging the viewer. Her softly modelled features emphasize the knowing look that she exchanges with the viewer, suggesting her awareness of the child’s divine significance and also his fate. Wrapped protectively in his mother’s arms, the child’s peaceful slumber foreshadows his crucifixion.

Stanzione’s skillful use of color and light play a significant role in shaping the dramatic effect of this work. His careful arrangement of figures within the space creates a visual rhythm: the deep-hued blue and saturated red of the Virgin’s robes guide the viewer’s eye to the bright white tones in the figures’ faces. Stanzione has also inflected the religious image with several passages of visual interest, lending a sense of humanity to the holy figures. The placement of the Virgin’s head is especially clever, as her shadow falls across Christ’s face, shading his delicately closed eyes while he sleeps. Additionally, he seemingly replaces the halo that would otherwise signify the Virgin’s holiness with the cloud that is positioned directly behind her head.

Our painting is compositionally related to Stanzione’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt in the collection of Marchese Dosi Delfini in Pontremoli, Italy (Fig. 1).[1] The success and popularity of the composition is evinced by the fact that the artist produced variations on this theme, refashioning it here into a more engaging image which puts the viewer in direct conversation with the Virgin. Our painting is prominently monogrammed “EQ MAX” in the lower right, with which the artist frequently signed his paintings. Stanzione adopted this signature—which stands for “Eques Maximus” (Latin for Supreme Knight) as well as his name (literally, “Sir Massimo”) —after Pope Urban VIII made him a knight of Saint John in 1624 and a knight of the Order of Christ in 1627. Although it is undated, Sebastian Schütze has suggested a date of ca. 1650 for this work.

[1] Sebastian Schütze and Thomas Willette, Massimo Stanzione: L’opera Completa, Naples, 1992, 1992, pp. 227-228, no. 75, fig. 270).