MAINO, Giovanni Angelo del
(b. ca. 1475, d. ca. 1536, Pavia)

The Marriage of the Virgin

1519-24
Carved wood, polychromed and gilt, 56 x 119 cm
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

Around 1525 Lombardian artist Giovanni Angelo del Maino completed this stunning wooden relief depicting the Marriage of the Virgin. He was a highly regarded sculptor who produced a series of major altarpieces for churches north of Milan. This work has been ascribed to an altarpiece commissioned for the Sanctuary of the Madonna, in Tirano, Lombardy, that commemorated an apparition of the Virgin.