The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist

Author: Klazina Botke

Andrea del Sarto was one of the most copied artists in sixteenth-century Florence and his work served as an example to a whole new generation of painters. Collectors commissioned copies of his paintings; drawing copies after his paintings and frescoes was chiefly an exercise for young artists to improve their own skills and also provided a record of pictorial motifs that could possibly be used later. This rather stiff drawing was made after the so-called Porta a Pinti Madonna, a monumental fresco Del Sarto painted around 1521 for a tabernacle on a street corner near San Giusto alle Mura, just outside Florence’s city gate. It was regarded as one of the most important works of art in the cinquecento, but sadly did not survive centuries of exposure to the elements. What the original must have looked like can be inferred from the many painted copies.^[1] The possibility that our drawing was made after one of the contemporary copies, such as those in Florence and Birmingham, cannot be ruled out.^[2] The extravagant folds of the Virgin’s garments and the inventive composition, with the Christ Child and the infant St John standing either side of Mary on a rock covered by the drapery of her cloak, explain why this fresco was copied so often.^[3] The Porta a Pinti Madonna was also extremely accessible. The fresco was in a communal space and designed for public devotion. The positions of the Virgin, Christ and John were copied in the Rotterdam drawing, but there is no hint of the subtle style for which Andrea del Sarto is famous. The study is a coarse rendition of the three figures, in which the details have not been worked out and, to judge by the handling of the folds, not understood either. Similar copies can be found in Copenhagen and London.^[4]