A very important piece of the puzzle in reconstructing Francesco Conti’s early career, the central part of this horizontal altarpiece depicting the families of Christ and the Baptist has ties to a known work by the Florentine painter, the Madonna with Child (oil on canvas, 145 x 116 cm - 57 x 45,6 in) owned by Intesa Sanpaolo Bank. In a recent study a relationship to and analogies with works by Andrea del Sarto had been observed. 

Conti’s profound meditation on Andrea’s renowned works, venerated in Florence by generations of artists down to the 19th century, is all the more evident in the painting presented here, which can be considered an authentic homage to the painter “without flaws”. In particular, in this rediscovered composition by the 18th century artist, the allusion to Andrea’s Madonna of the Harpies, now at the Gallerie degli Uffizi, is clear not only in the arrangement and in the facial features of Mary and the Child, as in the Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Madonna with Child, but also in the Virgin’s position in a niche, similarly framed by slightly projecting pilasters and with a semi-circular podium.

Our canvas is distinguished, by rigid, voluminous drapery, with a fairly austere color palette indicative of Conti’s admiration for the works of Francesco Trevisani, reported in the late 18th century by Luigi Lanzi. The influence of that Veneto artist active in Rome is verifiable in works painted prior to the 1715 Adoration of the Magi for the Monastero Nuovo (Florence, Montedomini), a resplendent riot of lights and colors marking a true turning point in the painter’s career.

Our painting can in fact be placed within the first decade of the 18th century, perhaps just after Conti - a pupil of Simone Pignoni in his youth - returned from a long Roman sojourn between 1699 and 1705, made possible thanks to the protection of the powerful Riccardi family.

The painting presented here demonstrates a deep knowledge of the classical world: the composition of the figures, the elongated and flat nose of the Virgin and the balanced drapery are a shining example of 18th century Florentine painting.