Virgin and Child (Parmigianino)

Virgin and Child is an unfinished c.1527-1528 oil on panel painting by Parmigianino, now in the Courtauld Gallery, in London.

[1] The work passed through unknown hands after Vasari, eventually ending up in Lord Kinnard's collection, from whose successors Antoine Seilern acquired it via Colnaghi in 1965 before bequeathing it to the Courtauld in 1978.

[2][3] A preparatory drawing in the Albertina in Vienna shows an angel omitted from the final work.

The architectural background of the painting is complete, but traces of the underdrawing and preparation still show behind both the Madonna and Child, with much of her mantle still unpainted.

That background draws on Roman examples and refers to Raphael's Madonnas, whilst the Madonna's pose draws on that of the Erythraean Sibyl in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling and a very similar Christ Child appears in Parmigianino's Santa Margherita Madonna (1530).