Bronzino (1503–1572) at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples

Bronzino “Madonna and Child, the Young Saint John and Saint Elizabeth”

Painting – Oil on canvas (127 x 99 cm) 1560–1570

This painting by Bronzino depicts the meeting of the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth with their respective children.

The children’s faces are turned towards one another.

Jesus looks at Saint John the Baptist and the fruit he is holding out to him, but the latter looks up at Mary instead of looking at his little cousin.

Bronzino, Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John and Saint Elizabeth, Capodimonte Museum, Naples, Italy

Madonna and Child Jesus is sitting on his mother’s lap with one arm resting against the Holy Book, whilst reaching out with his other arm to take the fruit offered by John the Baptist;; the Virgin reacts by lowering her eyes towards John the Baptist and seems to be preventing him from offering the bouquet of flowers by gently placing her hand on his forearm in a gesture of affection.

Elizabeth, the mother of Saint John the Baptist, is depicted as an elderly servant who looks upon the Virgin Mary with respect.

These various interplay of glances encourage us to let our own gaze wander from one figure to another, without any of them dominating the others.

Only the red and blue colours of the Virgin’s garments give her particular visual prominence, whilst highlighting the softness of the Baby Jesus’s pink skin.

It is difficult to know the nature of the fruit offered by John the Baptist to Jesus, who accepts it with a smile: is it an apple, or a pomegranate?

If we analyse the painting from a religious perspective by viewing it as the meeting of the Old Testament, of which Elizabeth is a part, and the New Testament with Jesus and the Virgin, the fruit should be the apple of the Fall, offered by Saint John the Baptist to Christ the Redeemer, who forms the link between the two Testaments, a link reinforced by the meeting of their hands.

Beyond the significance of this painting’s religious meaning, one cannot help but admire this work by Bronzino.

The velvety texture of the children’s skin and the Virgin’s face is truly beautiful, demonstrating the exceptional talent of this Florentine painter.

Bronzino ”Portrait of a Lady“

Painting - Oil on Wood (68.5 x 49 cm) 1550–1560