拍品专文
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception became an increasingly important one in Catholic doctrine during the sixteenth century. As a crucial statement of the Virgin’s purity, it established that she was conceived without the ‘stain’ of Original Sin. Following the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which sought to officially define this issue, the iconography of the Immaculate Conception became increasingly popular in the visual arts. Giorgio Vasari’s treatments of the subject developed a number of elements which reoccur in later painters’ treatments of the subject. As in this finely painted work by Dandini, Vasari included the Tree of Life, with a serpent intertwined in its branches, Adam and Eve, and prophets and Old Testament figures beneath the Madonna, who is raised toward Heaven by a host of putti, in pictures like his Allegory of the Immaculate Conception in Florence (Galleria degli Uffizi).
The Prophet Isiah is here adapted from earlier pictures by Dandini, like Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist painted in the early 1630s (Private collection, Prato; Bellesi, op. cit., nos. 15 and 15a), with the artist adopting a similar treatment of the lined forehead and the dramatically contrasted highlights and shadows. Isiah’s inclusion with the Immaculate Conception is explained by the scroll he holds in his hand, which bears the text of one of his prophecies: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son’ (Isiah, 7:14). The prophet holds the scroll out toward the viewing, his other hand pointing back to the Madonna. The putti surrounding her are characteristic types by Dandini and recur in later paintings like the Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Meditation (Florence, Luzzetti collection; ibid. no. 103) and the Allegory of Comedy (Private collection; ibid., no. 104). Given the affinities that the Immaculate Conception shares with these pictures, Bellesi dates to the mid-1630s. Indeed, the cool tonality of flesh, and the strong colouring for the dress and drapery employed across the canvas are characteristic elements of Dandini’s evolved, mature style, showing his debt to his formative years with Cristofano Allori and Domenico Passignano.
The Prophet Isiah is here adapted from earlier pictures by Dandini, like Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist painted in the early 1630s (Private collection, Prato; Bellesi, op. cit., nos. 15 and 15a), with the artist adopting a similar treatment of the lined forehead and the dramatically contrasted highlights and shadows. Isiah’s inclusion with the Immaculate Conception is explained by the scroll he holds in his hand, which bears the text of one of his prophecies: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son’ (Isiah, 7:14). The prophet holds the scroll out toward the viewing, his other hand pointing back to the Madonna. The putti surrounding her are characteristic types by Dandini and recur in later paintings like the Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Meditation (Florence, Luzzetti collection; ibid. no. 103) and the Allegory of Comedy (Private collection; ibid., no. 104). Given the affinities that the Immaculate Conception shares with these pictures, Bellesi dates to the mid-1630s. Indeed, the cool tonality of flesh, and the strong colouring for the dress and drapery employed across the canvas are characteristic elements of Dandini’s evolved, mature style, showing his debt to his formative years with Cristofano Allori and Domenico Passignano.