The Virgin seated with the Christ Child in her lap
XVI century. Wash, Pencil, Grey-brown ink on yellow paper.Not on display
The psychology of the group, with the Virgin bending her face down to kiss the Christ Child´s breast, and the cradling of his left foot in her left hand, are deftly conveyed by the minimum of means. The simplification of form are also strong and coherent. A related motif of the Virgin and Child appears in several of Cambiaso´s drawn and painted works. For example, a painting by Cambiaso of the Virgin and Child in a Landscape in the Galleria di Palazzo Bianzo, Genoa, features the Virgin in a not dissimilar pose, though the Infant Christ stands on the ground in front of her.
A variant group is also to be found in the left foreground of a composition of the Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist in a Landscape I Berlin (inv. no. KdZ.7714).
Turner, Nicholas, From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Chicago, Art Services International, 2008, p.230
