"Madonna with Child" oil on canvas by Paolo Farinati (Verona 1524-1606), from around 1580.
Son of the painter Giovanni Battista di Cristoforo, he was a talented painter, draughtsman, architect and sculptor and one of the most representative artists of Mannerism in Verona. After an initial apprenticeship in his father's workshop, he was a pupil of Nicola Giolfino, who introduced him to a style strongly imprinted towards anti-naturalism and Mannerism, and probably of Antonio Badile and Domenico Brusasorci. A contemporary of Paolo Caliari known as Veronese, who remained one of his models of reference as well as a fraternal friend, thanks to a stay in Mantua he was influenced by Giulio Romano, Parmigianino and Michelangelo.
Farinati was the artist who, remaining in Verona unlike his more famous contemporaries, ensured the continuity of the Veronese pictorial school. The novelty is the modernity of his research, guaranteed him an important clientele, whose commissions arrived numerous for the decorations of churches and convents as well as villas and palaces.
From 16-10-2005 to 29-01-2006 an important exhibition was set up, with over 200 works, at the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona.
Our painting can be dated to around 1580, a transposition on canvas of a previous drawing of his, probably from 1549. There are two other copies, dated to 1590, at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan and the Civic Museum of Padua, both however with a less accurate execution than ours.
The painting is in good condition, with a relining dating back to the nineteenth century and is inserted in a beautiful gilded Empire frame. Canvas measures 49.5x42 with frame 72x67
