Madonna and Child with Sts Lawrence and Jerome

A mixture of influences - the Gothically dry painting of Ferrara, the Umbrian pursuit of soft singing lines, and Venetian colouristic refinement - led the Bolognese Francia to the “sweetness and harmony of paints” that Vasari noted. The artist was noted no less as an engraver, medallist and goldsmith than as a painter. The relief ornaments on the base of the throne indicate that Francia was originally a goldsmith. The inscription reads, “Signor Ludovico Calcina…, canon of San Petronio in Bologna, the reviver and creator, founder and restorer of that church [for which the painting was made] valued me, Francia the goldsmith, highly. Bologna. 1500.”