The Roman art school is one of the leading Italian schools of painting; such art movements as the renaissance, mannerism, baroque and caravagism developed here. In the collection of the Tambov Regional Picture Gallery, the Roman school is represented by the picture Madonna and Child with John the Baptist painted by the late Baroque artist Francesco Trevisani.

In Italy, Trevisani was influenced by artwork of Carlo Maratta. After Maratta’s death in 1713, the artist also created altar compositions and paintings on religious and mythological subjects. Later, Trevisani opened his own school of painting and began to masterfully copy the original works of other artists, including Italian masters Guido Reni, Paolo Veronese and Pietro da Cortona.

In the painting Madonna and Child with John the Baptist, Francesco Trevisani portrayed the saints popular in Italian pictorial art. According to legend, when the Virgin and Jesus lived on the banks of the Nile, John appeared there in the form of an angel to meet them. One of the most famous versions of this religious plot was created in the 15th century by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli.

On Trevisani’s canvas, the images of the Madonna, Christ and John the Baptist are imbued with harmony and peace. The color palette, the baby’s dynamic pose and the numerous folds on Mary’s clothes are characteristic of the baroque style which the artist adhered to.

The painting Madonna and Child and John the Baptist was attributed as the work of an unknown artist of the 16th century for a long time. The authorship of Francesco Trevisani was established in 1981 by Victoria Markova, a specialist in the field of Italian painting from the Pushkin Museum.