FERRARI, Gaudenzio
(b. ca. 1475, Valduggia, d. 1546, Milano)

St Anne Consoled by a Woman

1544-45
Detached fresco transferred to canvass, 190 x 65 cm
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

The Brera has several detached frescoes from the chapel of the Natività della Vergine in the Franciscan church of Santa Maria della Pace in Milan. The frescoes depict scenes related to the birth and juvenile years of the Virgin, a subject on which the interest of the Franciscan Order, who played an important role in Lombardy, was focused.

The composition of this lyrical painting is laid out symmetrically on the diagonal, not only on the surface but also in perspective depth. There is a slight thinning out of the structural interconnections above, leading to the landscape and the silent walled city, which are enveloped by the light between two wings of soft, dissolving foliage.