Roman School, 17th Century, Virgin And Child With An Angel

Roman School, 17th century

Virgin and Child with an Angel

Oil on canvas, 27 x 20 cm

Frame: 42 x 35.5 cm

The painting in question depicts the Virgin and Child, with the addition of an angel who gazes reverently at the Infant Jesus. The scene is woven together by a subtle interplay of gazes: the little angel appears to be observing the Child, while the Child returns the interested gaze. The Virgin leans toward the basket overflowing with fruit placed at her feet. The presence of the little angel with fruit may shed light on the depicted scene: assuming this is not merely an offering to the newborn, the artist may have depicted an episode from the apocryphal gospels in which, during the flight into Egypt, angels descended from Heaven to provide refreshment to the family. Music, dates, and various fruits would have brightened the hardships of the journey.
This painting can be attributed to a 17th-century Roman painter who was well acquainted with the works of Simon Vouet (Paris, January 9, 1590 – Paris, June 30, 1649), given that the painting echoes a composition by the French master now housed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen. This sacred image, suitable for private devotion, most likely spread through prints that circulated from workshop to workshop, as evidenced by the engraving preserved at the Capodimonte Museum; our image, which is inverted compared to the original, was therefore derived from one of these prints. 
Simon Vouet was a painter and designer who helped introduce the Italian Baroque style to French painters. Vouet’s new style was clearly Italian, due to his years of study in Italy between 1613 and 1627, spent primarily in Rome, when the Baroque was just emerging. He also visited Venice, Genoa, Naples, and Bologna, where the Carracci were active. Vouet was an academic; he studied and absorbed everything around him, then distilled it—including Caravaggio’s dramatic light, Veronese’s colors, and the art of the Carracci, Guercino, and Guido Reni. He was a well-known and respected artist, honored as president of the Roman Academy of Saint Luke, and summoned to France by Louis XII.
In Paris, Vouet represented a fresh and dominant force; he painted public altarpieces and allegorical decorations for private clients. His studio trained an entire school of French painters—the generation that followed him—and through him, French Baroque took on a classicizing character from the very beginning. Among them were several artists of the French Baroque, such as Philippe de Champaigne, Nicolas Poussin, and above all Charles le Brun, his most important pupil.