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Lot description
(Siena 1571–1626 Rome) Madonna and Child, oil on canvas, 98.5 x 73 cm, framed Provenance: sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 4 October 2006, lot 94 (as Antiveduto Gramatica); Private European collection Literature: G. Papi, Antiveduto Gramatica, Cremona 1995, p. 104, no. 34, illustrated p. 163, fig. 21 (as Antiveduto Grammatica) We are grateful to Gianni Papi for reconfirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original. This intimate depiction of the Madonna guiding the Christ Child in reading exemplifies Antiveduto Gramatica’s skill in rendering devotional imagery and tender expression. The warm physical embrace and the calm, luminous modelling of the faces create a quietly affective scene suited to private devotion. Born in Siena in 1571, Gramatica moved at a young age to Rome, where he trained first with Giovanni Domenico Angelini and subsequently entered the workshop of Giuseppe Cesari, known as the Cavalier d’Arpino. The latter’s influence is visible in his clear draughtsmanship and lucid colour harmonies, while his later works reveal a softening of forms and a more naturalistic tone in line with early Baroque currents. Over the course of his career, Gramatica secured prestigious commissions, including altarpieces for San Carlo ai Catinari and Santa Maria della Consolazione, but he was particularly renowned for his small-scale paintings destined for private chapels and domestic devotion, a genre in which he excelled.