More about The Virgin and Child with Saint Andrew and Saint Peter
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Here's eight pound, six ounce, newborn baby Jesus learning about shapes and colors.
Cima was a busy guy, so we'll forgive him for leaving this one unfinished. Depicting the Virgin Mary was his bread and butter, and this painting fits into a particular subgenre where a couple saints loiter around the Virgin and Christ like total jabronis. The blue splotch around Saint Peter's head (the one on the right) looks out of place because it's an aftermarket addition. It's not a terrible addition, but it sure ain't an upgrade. The painting's been around for almost 500 years, and there's no telling who decided to pick up where Cima left off.
The first known owners were the Collalto family, big shots in Treviso twenty miles down the road from Cima's hometown of Conegliano. The Collaltos were tough guys; warriors installed as the area's nobility to run things for the Italian kings way off on the other side of the boot. Until the Venetian Republic started rolling heavy, that is. The Republic brought an influx of cash and peace to the area and the Collalto clan became swords for sale to the highest bidder (first the Venetians, then the Austrians). Treviso remained a home base from which they got into the wine and art patronage games. Good times in the Veneto dried up by the 1800s, however. Folks all over were broke like a joke. Which is probably why the Collalto family sold Virgin with Child off to a family in Perugia before the painting made its way to Scotland and its current resting place in the National Gallery.
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Here is what Wikipedia says about Virgin and Child with Saint Andrew and Saint Peter
The Virgin and Child with Saint Andrew and Saint Peter is an unfinished painting by an unknown artist in the studio of Cima da Conegliano. It is believed to have been created in the late 15th or early 16th century. It is now in the National Galleries of Scotland, in Edinburgh.
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