Barocci, Federico (nach/after)

Description:

Urbino 1535 - 1612
61 x 81 cm
The Madonna of the Cherries. Oil/canvas, relined.
German private collection. The painting depicting the Holy Family on the Flight into Egypt was painted by Barocci for his friend, the art collector Simonetto Anastagi from Perugia. Although the painting is inspired by similar compositions by Correggio, it conforms to the new precepts of the Counter-Reformation by expressing the religious theme with gestures of an immediate and harmonious simplicity, thus transposing the divine sphere into a more human context. The palm tree usually used in this motif is replaced here by a cherry tree, the fruit of which alludes symbolically to the blood and passion of Christ. After Anastagi's death (1602), the work passed into the possession of the Jesuits of Perugia and, after the closure of the order (1773), came to Rome, where it was added to the Pinacoteca under Pius X (inv. no. 40377). The painter of the present painting, who probably originated from the Flemish region of the 17th century, converted the upright format of the original into a landscape format, varied it slightly and extended it, especially in the left half.