THE CHILD JESUS AND SAN GIOVANNINO

This small and precious panel shows John the Baptist as a child with his arm around the shoulders of the blessing Christ Child. The two children are leaning on a windowsill opening onto a semi-open space that allows a glimpse of an airy landscape. Its cut borders tell us that the panel was probable originally larger than its current size. It was restored by Carlo Fantachiotti during the 19th century. Sources from the 17th century mention a possible Raphaelesque signature, which however was not confirmed by subsequent studies that refer to it as originating from the workshop of Pietro Perugino. It must be pointed out, in any case, that the two children are faithful reproductions of a detail in the Vannucci altarpiece of La Famiglia della Vergine. Commissioned in 1500 by Angelo di Tommaso Conti for the Chapel of Sant’Anna in Santa Maria degli Angeli, it was confiscated by the French in 1797, and is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Marseilles.