17th Century Italian Devotion Oil - Following De Sassoferrato (1609-1685)

Fine and diminutive 17th century Italian school devotional oil on canvas, later mounted on board, featuring the Madonna, Jesus, the infant John the Baptist and his mother Elizabeth. Recently conserved and now ready to hang and enjoy in its original fine quality carved Sansovino frame retaining its original gilding.
Most of the Christmas story focuses on Mary the mother of Christ but in the bible there is another important who played a role in his birth.
Elizabeth was unable to have children and was well beyond child bearing years when she conceived her son
Her husband, Zechariah, was visited by the angel Gabriel and given the news in the temple unable to believe what he was hearing he was made mute When Elizabeth was pregnant, she was visited by Mary, the expectant mother of Jesus. Upon hearing Mary speak, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy.
Elizabeth gave birth to a son who they named John as the Angel Gabriel had commanded and Zechariah's ability to speak returned. John became John the Baptist the prophet who foretold the coming of Jesus
Sassoferato (1609-16850) Giovanni Battista Salvi was born at Sassoferrato in the Marches, from where he took his name. His work, which was consciously anachronistic in 17th-century Rome, looked back to the 15th-century manner of Perugino and Raphael. Sassoferrato's paintings consist for the most part of immaculately painted devotional images of the Virgin and Holy Family, usually repeated in several versions.

Sassoferrato was trained in Umbria by his father before moving to Rome, where he was not entirely unaffected by contemporary painters, including Domenichino and Reni. In his late years he was active again in Umbria and in Florence, where he would have known the work of Dolci, and where he may have died.

Higher resolution images on request.
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Canvas: 9" x 7.5" / 23cm x 19cm.
Frame: 14"x 12" / 37cm x 31.5cm.