A major acquisition for the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), which has announced the acquisition of eight new works and collections intended to enrich its holdings, including a significant *Madonna and Child with Saint Francis* painted in 1503 by Francesco Francia (Francesco Raibolini; Bologna, c. 1447–1517), an Emilian artist who was one of the leading figures of Bolognese Renaissance painting. The MIA is acquiring a rare work by him, which is in excellent condition.
Francesco Francia was the leading painter of Renaissance Bologna under the Bentivoli family: the son of a carpenter, he began his training as a goldsmith and went on to become master of the Bologna mint before devoting himself to painting around the age of thirty. His career unfolded during a crucial phase of Italian artistic culture, and Giorgio Vasari counted him among the artists who helped lay the foundations of the mature Renaissance. Francia’s work is characterized above all by devotional images marked by delicate beauty and a distinctive compositional harmony. The sacred figures depicted by the artist are often immersed in a state of silent contemplation, expressed through a visual language that combines religious devotion with the formal refinement typical of early 16th-century Italian painting.
The Madonna and Child with Saint Francis, created in 1503, was painted for Paolo Zambeccari, a Bolognese senator and close friend of the artist, as attested by the inscription on the parapet (“Francia Paulo Zambecchari pinxit MCCCCCIII”). The connection between the patron and the painter is also commemorated by the inscription on the parapet, which lists the names of both. The painting boasts an illustrious provenance: it remained at Palazzo Zambeccari, passing from heir to heir within the same family, until around 1870–1871, after which it passed—at an unspecified time, but perhaps toward the end of the century—to the Bevilacqua Ariosti family; it is documented in their palace in 1968, and through inheritance it eventually came into the possession of the previous owner. The MIA acquired it through the Rob Smeets gallery in Geneva, which had brought it to this year’s edition of TEFAF in Maastricht.
At the center of the composition are the Virgin and Child, depicted in a sacred conversation with Saint Francis. The saint, recognizable by his stigmata, casts a sorrowful glance toward the lively infant Jesus. In the Child’s hand, meanwhile, is a goldfinch, a symbolic element that foreshadows the Passion of Christ and introduces into the devotional scene a reference to Jesus’ future destiny. This is one of the earliest known examples of a composition that Francesco Francia would later repeat with variations, such as in the *Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Francis* at the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona.
The panel stands out for its extraordinary state of preservation, which allows one to appreciate with particular clarity the quality of Francia’s painting and the balance of the composition. For the Minneapolis Institute of Art, this acquisition represents a significant expansion of its collections dedicated to early 16th-century Italian art: the new work, in fact, enters into dialogue with paintings already in the museum’s collection, including works by Lorenzo Costa and Cima da Conegliano. The addition of the *Madonna and Child with Saint Francis* thus enables the MIA to strengthen its portrayal of a pivotal moment in the history of the Italian Renaissance, connecting the artists and artistic styles that contributed to the development of Northern Italian painting between the 15th and 16th centuries.
The acquisition of Francesco Francia’s work is the highlight of the new group of eight works and collections that have become part of the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s holdings, further expanding the museum’s visitors’ opportunity to explore early 16th-century Italian art through a rare and exceptionally well-preserved piece, at the expense of Bologna, where the work had remained ever since it was painted, and where today one can see, especially at the Pinacoteca Nazionale, a significant number of works by the Bolognese artist: Consequently, this work—which, while not among his most significant, is nonetheless an interesting example of his work commissioned for private devotion—will no longer be on view in his hometown; more than five hundred years after its creation, it has made its way to the United States.
 |
| An important "Madonna and Child" by Francesco Francia has been acquired by an American museum |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
IT
FR
DE
ES
CN
