Baglioni Madonna

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Baglioni Madonna, also known as Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint Anne, is an oil on panel painting by Andrea Previtali, created around 1512–1513. It is kept in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and is Previtali’s earliest surviving work; the painting is signed ANDREAS.BER.PIN. In 1900 it was named Baglioni Madonna after its last private owner, Francesco Baglioni, who donated it to the gallery. The work is a sacra conversazione scene, showing the Virgin Mary and the Child between two saints. It was restored in 2011 by Amalia Pacia and Maria Cristina Rodeschini. The exact identities of the two saints are uncertain, with possible options including Saint Zechariah and Saint Anne or Saint Jerome and Saint Anne, but there are no clear attributes to confirm them. The composition follows the Bellini tradition, with the Virgin looking at the Child who reads a book; one saint holds a gospel, and the other’s identity is debated. The painting has stylistic links to Previtali’s Venice period and to works by Bergognone and Giorgione in its background. The patron identities remain unknown, so a definite attribution of the saints cannot be made.