Francesco Granacci (Villamagna 1469-1543 Florence)

Francesco Granacci was a pupil in the Florentine studio of Domenico Ghirlandaio, where he studied alongside the young Michelangelo. The two became friends, yet a dispute with Michelangelo prevented Granacci from assisting in what would have been the greatest commission of his career, the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. At the time of its sale in 1963, the background of this painting had been extensively reworked to depict a mountainous landscape with a lake and trees beyond the throne. A more recent cleaning, however, has revealed the artist’s original composition, in which Saint Anne stands behind the ledge to the right of the Madonna and Child.