17th century Hispano-Flemish school, Madonna and Child

17th century Hispano-Flemish school Madonna and Child Oil on copper, 15 x 23 cm – with frame, 41 x 28 cm In this small oil on copper painting, the richly dressed Virgin, holding the book of sacred scriptures in her hands, watches over the docile Child, who is asleep and lying on an elaborate wooden cradle. The practice of painting on copper, coinciding with Mannerist taste, became established at the dawn of the 16th century. In the same years that saw the spread of engraving for the production of prints and the refinement of painted enamel techniques, many painters began to paint landscapes, still lifes, religious and mythological subjects, battle scenes, and genre scenes on copper. Copper was a more precious support than ordinary canvases and panels, and it responded to the search for preciousness characteristic of Mannerist taste. This technique was cultivated by great artists such as Domenichino, Guercino, Guido Reni, Caravaggio, Sebastiano del Piombo, and Bronzino, but also by many Flemish painters, more or less well-known. The invention of laminate allowed for the rapid and non-fusion production of very regular surfaces through specifically studied techniques, which sometimes involved coating with further alloys. We do not know who first introduced the technique of painting on copper in Europe; it is clear that from the mid-16th century, this support was widely used in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands as a new and precious element for small and refined paintings. Guido Reni, for example, who learned the technique of painting on copper from the Flemish artist Denys Calvaert, used to coat the copper support with thin sheets of silver, gold, or a tin-like metal, in order to achieve an effect of extreme luminosity. Oil painting on copper plate, vivid and brilliant, proved ideal for the representation of sacred and profane themes. From the second half of the 17th century, there was a decline in the technique due to problems related to metal corrosion, the perishability of the works, and the difficulty of creating large-scale pieces. The iconography of the Virgin with the book of sacred scriptures had already been widespread in the Florentine area since the late 15th century, as demonstrated by Sandro Botticelli's Madonna and Child Reading at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and Giorgione's Reading Madonna at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. From the 16th century onwards, it also spread to the Spanish area, as evidenced by the painting by the Master of Santa Inés at the Galdiano Museum in Madrid. The depiction of the Infant Jesus in a cradle, on the other hand, is more characteristic of Northern Europe. While unusual in Italy, it is found in some 17th-century Flemish paintings; a famous example is Rembrandt's Holy Family with Angels, now at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The radiant halo of the Virgin connects to models from the Spanish area of the late 16th century.