Madonna and Child with an Angel

The most recent studies have revealed that Foppa’s cultural background, initially though to be Paduan, was fundamentally Lombard. The artist, who had an eventful life, was highly esteemed by the Sforza family, and was a prot�g� of Duke Galeazzo Maria.

The Madonna and Child with an Angel is a revealing expression of Foppa’s complex cultural personality. The space in which the figures are inserted - clearly North European in character, with the little window providing light and the typical Flemish window-sill - is undoubtedly a spiritual space, one which invites us to enter ethically into the painting. Foppa then delineates his subject with clear, sharp colour tones, constructing the planes of the composition with a forceful and essential line.