Virgin and Child
by SANTI, Giovanni, Egg tempera and oil on panel, 68 x 49 cm
Giovanni Santi, the father of Raphael, moved in the orbit of the sophisticated court of Urbino. A respectable corpus of works survives by him. The Virgin and Child in London is one of his characteristic paintings. This painting displays flesh tones composed with a pronounced use of lead white pigment, producing an opaque effect nearly identical to that visible in Raphael’s early paintings.