c1500 Painting of Madonna Lactans in the Style of Timoteo Viti

A beautiful miniature watercolour representing the Virgin Mary breastfeeding (Madonna Lactans) the baby Jesus, in a bucolic setting, with an infant St John the Baptist and woman looking on.

The painting has an oval shape and is set in a later Georgian frame. The detail of the faces is superb and the colours on the clothes and scene are still fresh, despite a certain lightening to the pink. Close inspection, especially the lapis lazuli blue, shows the crushed mineral in the paint. The painting, by its style and composition dates from around 1500 and is in the style of Timoteo Viti (a.k.a. Timoteo della Viti). The oval frame is made of black ebony, with a gilded brass border. The painting is protected by an oval domed glass cover.

Timoteo Viti (1469-1523) was born in and lived in Urbino, Italy. He was a Renaissance painter, who was closely associated with Raphael, who was fourteen years his junior. He died in Urbino.

Size picture: 10 x 8 cm (4 x 3 1/8 inches)
Size frame: 16 x 13 x 1.5 cm (6 ¼ x 5 1/8 x 5/8 inches)
Weight: 109 g