Annibale Carracci, 'The Montalto Madonna', about 1600.
London, The National Gallery.

Recent Acquisition

The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist ('The Montalto Madonna')

about 1600

Annibale Carracci
(1560 - 1609)

NG6597

This small devotional work is one of Annibale Carracci's most celebrated and copied easel paintings, widely known as 'The Montalto Madonna'.

It was made for Cardinal Alessandro Pereti Montalto, a major patron of painters and sculptors in Rome. The painting was presumed lost until it was sold at auction in London in July 2003 and was purchased by the National Gallery a year later.

This animated painting depicts the Madonna rising to greet the viewer as she balances her squirming baby who plays with an apple. Annibale endows her pose with gravity and grace that updates Michelangelo's 'Sibyls' by close study from nature. Saints Joseph and John respond to the lively child with focused attentiveness. The Madonna's wide-eyed gaze draws us into the image, giving the scene an emotional vibrancy. Her softly painted flesh and the Child's round forms, curly locks, and rippling drapery reflect the example of Correggio and are infused with a sweetness that greatly appealed to Baroque sensibilities.

'The Montalto Madonna' is one of the first paintings to apply an imposing Baroque composition to an intimately-scaled picture of the Madonna. The Baroque style was established by Annibale in his fresco decorations for the Farnese Gallery, Rome and in a few paintings made just before 1600. In these works he combined the monumentality and gravity of Raphael and Michelangelo with the movement, colour and emotion of Correggio and Venetian paintings.

'The Montalto Madonna' joins a distinguished collection of five other works by the artist in the Gallery's collection, each of which represents a different aspect of Annibale's art.

The purchase of this painting was made possible by recent legacies to the National Gallery and a generous donation by The Matthiesen Gallery. Following its purchase, the painting was restored and given a new frame, purchased for the Gallery and generously donated by Mr and Mrs Ludovic de Walden.

Oil on copper, 35 x 27.5 cm

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