ATTRIBUTED TO ANDREA MELDOLLA, CALLED LO SCHIAVONE (?ZADAR C.1510-1563 VENICE)

One of the key exponents of Mannerism in the Veneto, Schiavone here employs the repeated figura serpentinata - figures depicted in serpentine twists. These, combined with the liquid texture of the paint and rapidity of execution of the shadowy architecture, gives the present work its unothodox dynamism. A similar sense can be found in other of Schiavone's works on a large scale, such as the Adoration of the Magi in the Ambrosiana, Milan (see F.L. Richardson, Andrea Schiavone, Oxford, 1980, cat. 236, fig. 86).