Attributed to Caterina Cherubini

Attributed to CATERINA CHERUBINI (Rome, 1730- 1811); second half of the 18th century.
"Madonna with Child and St. John".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 55 x 42 cm; 65 x 53,5 cm (frame).
This work that follows a model of the artist Caterina Cherubini, represents a scene of strong devotional load in which the Virgin Mary holds the Child Jesus while this one interacts with Saint John the Baptist Child. The composition follows the Renaissance model of the "Sacra Conversazione", with the figures arranged in a triangular arrangement that reinforces the visual harmony and symbolic connection between the characters.
The Virgin, with a serene and melancholic expression, delicately holds Jesus, who is seated on her lap. St. John the Baptist carries the cross and holds the phylactery with the inscription "Ecce Agnus Dei" (Behold the Lamb of God). The pictorial treatment shows the influence of the Renaissance, with an interest in the softness of the contours, the delicate modeling of the faces and the application of a light that envelops the figures in an atmosphere of intimacy. The chromatic palette, dominated by warm and earthy tones, together with the detailed work on the folds of the clothing, evidences the technical quality of the painting.
Caterina Cherubini Preciado was an Italian painter and miniaturist, renowned for her talent as a copyist. At the age of twenty, in 1750, she married the Spanish painter Francisco Preciado de la Vega, who had been her teacher. In 1760 she was named academician of merit at the Academy of San Lucas in Rome after presenting an oil on copper of the Virgin and Child, a work influenced by Sassoferrato. The following year, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid granted her the same recognition, although without granting her full rights of participation.
Dedicated especially to miniatures, his first documented work is a Virgin and Child, dated 1754 and preserved in a private collection. In 1766 she entered the Academy of Arcadia under the pseudonym of Ersilla Ateneia and in 1778 she was distinguished as an honorary academician at the Clementine Academy of Bologna, together with her husband.
In 1774, King Charles III granted her an annual pension in exchange for miniatures inspired by works by Raphael or Correggio. Over the years, she sent copies of paintings by artists such as Guido Reni and Guercino, all well received and rewarded with additional gratuities.
After her husband's death in 1789, she continued to send works to Madrid, but faced financial difficulties, as she had to support her three elderly sisters. Despite the support of the ambassador José Nicolás de Azara, she had to sell some of her husband's paintings, such as a Santa Catalina acquired by the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi in 1789.