Lot 929 | Madonna and Child with St. John the Boy

CHIMENTI, JACOPO
('L'Empoli')
Florence 1551 - 1640

Title: Madonna and Child with St. John the Boy.
Date: Ca. 1595.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Mounting: Parquetted.
Measurement: 75 x 62cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Certificate
F. Berti, Florence, 2017.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Italy.

Jacopo Chimenti or Jacopo da Empoli, as mentioned by the biographer of the Tuscan artist Filippo Baldinucci, produced several paintings for private individuals in Florence depicting the Virgin Mary with Jesus. Indeed, numerous Madonnas with Child are known by this painter, often, as in the case of the present painting, accompanied by Saint John. The earliest representations of this subject still reveal Chimenti's apprenticeship with Maso da San Friano and, above all, the young artist's interest in Pontormo, one of his first points of reference. This influence can be seen above all in the panels dated around 1580, which were once in the church of San Bartolomeo in Lozzole and then housed in the museum of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa.

The present painting on wood, on the other hand, shows similar solutions to works from the 1590-1595 period, such as the painting with the Madonna and Child and Saints John and Elizabeth from the Strozzi Guicciardini Collection in Florence. These similarities can be seen, among other things, in the composition: in both works, the exchange of the cross between the infant Jesus, sitting on his mother's lap, and John the Baptist, is considered the main gesture. Furthermore, the position and posture of the figures are repeated, although they are mirror images of each other. In both cases, the iconographic attribute of Jesus is also formed by a modest interlacing of rods.
This group of three main figures, which was also used in 1594 for the upper part of the altarpiece in the church of San Maria Novella and the following year for that of San Felice in Piazza, reveals a certain autonomous figurative language, characterised by fully recognisable physiognomies and a certain naturalism.