Provenance:

Private Collection, Italy
With Robert Simon Fine Art, 2024; where acquired by the present owner.

This panel stands out among Plautilla’s small-scale works for its finely rendered architectural exedra backdrop. While her compositions frequently feature outdoor settings with cloud-filled skies and views onto distant landscapes, Plautilla here emulates the pietra serena domed niche found in Fra Paolino’s Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (Fig. 1). This altarpiece was commissioned for Santa Caterina da Siena and installed over the altar of the nuns’ choir—a private space that was separated from the public church. The nuns were the exclusive audience of this major work of art, which became a frequent point of reference for Plautilla. Her unique ability to absorb a variety of influences and to refashion compositions by her predecessors into new imagery was a central part of her artistic practice.

Beyond echoing earlier models, Plautilla’s painting manifests the inherent conservative tenor of her art, a reflection both of her own religious calling and that of her patrons, many of whom were women within or in close contact with the convent. That audience is underscored by the prominent placement of female saints in the foreground of many of her works. Here, Saint Lucy is shown at left holding a martyr’s palm and her eyes (her saintly attribute). On the right, the infant Saint John the Baptist approaches the Virgin and child with a prayerful gesture (his arms crossed over his chest), while Christ reaches out and gently caresses his face.

The group of holy figures is encircled by the niche, which lends an intimacy to the scene. Notably, Plautilla has reversed the direction of light and shadow across the curved surface from that found in Fra Paolino’s altarpiece, likely to accommodate the changed directionality of her composition, with the Christ child’s gesture now oriented towards the right. The close proximity of the figures in a V-shaped formation lends a monumentality to the seated Virgin at center. Both she and Saint Lucy peer out of the painting and engage the viewer—a motif that recurs in Plautilla’s paintings and must have enhanced the original owner’s devotional experience.

Technical Images