La Belle Jardiniere (Madonna with Child and Saint John the Baptist)
Albert Krafft
Basic information
- ID
- Ж-327
- Author
- Albert Krafft
- Name
- La Belle Jardiniere (Madonna with Child and Saint John the Baptist)
- Date of creation
- 19th c.
- Technique
- oil painting
- Material
- canvas oil
- Dimensions (height x width, cm)
- 45.5 x 31
Additionally
- Type
- painting
- Genre
- religious
- Plot
- Madonna and Infant Christ with Saint John the Baptist
- Provenance
- the Lubomirski collection
- Exposition
- Potocki Palace
Information about author
Object description
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary, Child Jesus, and the young Saint John the Baptist. The Madonna is the central figure of the painting. Her face is positioned at the top of the pyramidal composition, and her body takes up most of the rest. She protects Christ, who gazes at her, displaying a sense of dependence and childlike trust. It is believed that the book held by the Madonna contains a prophecy of Christ's death. Jesus stands by her feet on the right side. John the Baptist is positioned on one knee to the left of Mary, holding a cross in his right hand. Faint halos are depicted around their heads. The painting's background features a beautiful rural garden landscape. The author created a replica of the painting "La Belle Jardiniere" – "The Beautiful Gardener" – considered one of the most famous Madonnas by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. The painting also echoes the spatial landscapes of Pietro Perugino. He used the popular pyramidal composition typical of High Renaissance art and the sfumato technique. Another feature seen in "La Belle Jardiniere" is Madonna's highly idealised beauty and grace, which Raphael's followers admired. There is no exact information about the painting's authorship, but it came to the Gallery as a work of Albrecht Kraft. The artist used a unified naturalistic composition with rich, vivid colours and mixed light and shadows to create a realistic atmosphere.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
