Francesco Di Bernardo De’ Vecchi, also known as Rizzo Da Santacroce, workshop of, Madonna and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist

Francesco Di Bernardo De’ Vecchi, also known as Rizzo Da Santacroce, workshop of, Madonna and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist. Oil on panel, 39.5 x 34 cm. This Madonna and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist is a work intended for the private devotional market, created by the workshop of Francesco di Bernardo de' Vecchi, known as Rizzo da Santacroce, and datable to around the mid-16th century. The composition is set against a landscape background with dark trees and a sky traversed by light clouds, in front of which are arranged three figures: the Virgin, dressed in a green mantle and orange drapery, holds the Child wrapped in white swaddling clothes with both arms, while on the right appears Saint John the Baptist, recognizable by the processional cross he holds and by the wreath of leaves adorning his curly hair. Francesco di Bernardo de' Vecchi, known as Rizzo da Santacroce, was originally from Santa Croce, a small hilltop village facing San Pellegrino Terme, across the Brembo stream. This village was home to several families - the Galizzi (also known as Rizzo or De Vecchi), the Oprandi, the Grazioli, and the Micheli - who, during the sixteenth century, moved to larger centers like Bergamo and Venice, gradually emptying the village and bringing with them their artisanal and pictorial traditions. At least a dozen painters active from the late 15th century to the first quarter of the 17th century came from Santa Croce, organized into two distinct families and two workshops, both operating in Venice. The workshop in question is the one established by Francesco di Simone, who died in 1508, whose legacy passed to Francesco Rizzo di Bernardo, documented from 1504 to 1545, assisted by his brother Vincenzo. He was succeeded by his probable cousin Giovanni De Vecchi or Galizzi, present in Venice until 1565. The first certain information about Francesco Rizzo dates back to 1505, when he appeared as a witness in a document, indicating that he must have been over eighteen years old. In 1518, he delivered a triptych to the church of Santa Maria in Serina, and his last documentary mention dates from 1545, the year after which he is presumed to have died. The workshop of Rizzo da Santacroce was distinguished by its production of devotional images intended for a bourgeois and religious clientele, replicating a fixed repertoire of iconographic models with variations in detail. This working method, typical of Venetian workshops in the 16th century, allowed for an efficient response to market demand while maintaining recognizable quality standards. Close comparisons with the panel in question can be found in works preserved at the Pinacoteca of the Giovanni Bellini Civic Museum in Sarnico. In particular, the Holy Family with the young Saint John the Baptist housed there shows clear similarities in compositional choices. Even more precise is the comparison with the Madonna and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist in the same gallery: the figure of the young Saint John the Baptist, with his cross, wavy hair, and floral wreath, finds an almost mirror image correspondence with that present in the painting under examination, confirming that both works draw from the same workshop cartoons or models, adapted with minimal variations to meet the needs of devotional commissions.