Alessandro Varotari, detto il Padovanino (Padova 1588 - Venezia 1648)

                      Ugo Ruggeri - Il Padovanino - Soncino, 1993, p. 118, ill. in colour No. 36

The painting presented here was made known by Ugo Ruggeri in 1988, on that occasion it was dated in the fifties of the seventeenth century for the strong analogies with works of that period such as the Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine, today in Modena in the Galleria Estense. The strong chromatic contrasts and the very powerful formal structure expressed especially in the physicality of the Child confirm the dating of the work; In fact, at this stage of his career Varotari is strongly influenced by the youthful compositions of Titian of the Sacred Conversations of the Collection of the Marquis of Bath and the State Museum of Munich.