''Virgin and Child'' is an unfinished c.1527-1528 oil on panel painting by

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, ...

, now in the

Courtauld Gallery The Courtauld Gallery () is an art museum in Somerset House, on the Strand, London, Strand in central London. It houses the collection of the Samuel Courtauld Trust and operates as an integral part of the Courtauld Institute of Art. The Court ...

, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

History and description

As it is usually identified with one which

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

sketched in Bologna and later bought for himself, it is sometimes also known as the Vasari Madonna. The work passed through unknown hands after Vasari, eventually ending up in Lord Kinnard's collection, from whose successors

Antoine Seilern Count Antoine Seilern (17 September 1901 – 6 July 1978) was an Anglo-Austrian art collector and art historian. He was considered, along with Sir Denis Mahon, to be one of a handful of important collectors who was also a respected scholar. Th ...

acquired it via Colnaghi in 1965 before bequeathing it to the Courtauld in 1978. A preparatory drawing in the

Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

in Vienna shows an angel omitted from the final work. The architectural background of the painting is complete, but traces of the underdrawing and preparation still show behind both the Madonna and Child, with much of her mantle still unpainted. That background draws on Roman examples and refers to

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

's Madonnas, whilst the Madonna's pose draws on that of the

Erythraean Sibyl The Erythraean Sibyl was the prophetess of classical antiquity presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Erythrae, a town in Ionia opposite Chios, which was built by Neleus, the son of Codrus. The word ''Sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the anci ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

Sistine Chapel ceiling The Sistine Chapel ceiling (), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican City, Vatican betwee ...

and a very similar Christ Child appears in Parmigianino's '' Santa Margherita Madonna'' (1530). Some critics argue that this dates the work to his stay in Rome just before moving to Bologna, Mario Di Giampaolo and Elisabetta Fadda, ''Parmigianino'', Keybook, Santarcangelo di Romagna 2002. whilst others theorise he may have left it incomplete due to the Sack of Rome in 1527.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virgin and Child 1529 paintings Paintings in the Courtauld Gallery Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Parmigianino