Genoese School, 15th Century

Madonna and Child, with two angels,
tempera and oil on canvas laid down on panel, 72.5 x 47 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Berlin

The present painting bears a coat-of-arms on the lower right: an Italian-style horse-head escutcheon with a standing lion before a red and silver striped background. On top of the coat-of-arms a dragon biting its tail is depicted, mounted by a cross. This may suggest the paintings owner or commission was by a member of the Dragon Order, a Catholic noble order founded circa 1408. The type of escutcheon in this painting, is a special shield-form of heraldry and is found almost exclusively in Italy, especially during the 15th century.

Technical analysis:
Three kinds of underdrawing can be noticed in IR images: two outline drawings, a thin black one, sometimes superficial, and a larger one, deeper one, made also with a thin brush, showing a hatched drawing, to build the shadows such as in the Madonna’s head.

We are grateful to Gianluca Poldi for the technical examination of the present painting.