Madonna and Child with the Infant Baptist

Angelo Caroselli 1585 - 1652

Summary

The Virgin Mary tenderly holds the infant Jesus, who is seated on a tasselled cushion with his feet on a stone plinth. The young St John gazes up at them, holding a small songbird by its open wings. The positioning of the bird in front of his staff, its head slightly drooping and its wings splayed, presages the crucifixion. The Infant leans forward excitedly, as if longing to hold it, in a gesture that is simultaneously a tender and appealing image of infancy and a dire portent of his future. A stone relief behind the Virgin depicts Rebecca, on the right, giving a bowl of water to Eliezer, on the left, with a camel in the centre. A landscape with a castle on a hill is visible beyond the trees. Caroselli, who was mainly active in Rome, was greatly influenced by Caravaggio and, according to Baldinucci, may even have met him before the latter fled the city in 1606. Largely self-taught, Caroselli was nonetheless accomplished enough by 1608 to be admitted to the Academy of Saint Luke. His oeuvre is hard to date, because he used several styles simultaneously and interchangeably.