VINI, Sebastiano - b. 1530 Verona, d. 1602 Verona

Italian painter, also known as Bastiano Veronese. He was trained in his native Verona probably in the workshop of Domenico Brusasorci, but his work shows the influence of Paolo Veronese. In 1548 he settled in Pistoia and married there. His son, Jacopo Vini was also a painter.

He was prolific in Pistoia. Among his works was an Annunciation (1552) for the later-suppressed church of San Pierino alla Porta Lucchese, then moved to the Sacristy of the Prepositura del Montale. He painted a Nativity for the main altar of the Conservatory of San Giovanni Battista. He painted for the churches of Letto and of the Monks of San Sebastiano. He painted another Annunciation for the church of San Giovanni Fuoricivitas, and a Presentation at the Temple for the church of the Servites.

He painted frescoes for the façade of San Desiderio (1596?) and for the church and cloister of San Domenico. He made few works outside Pistoia.

Madonna and Child with Saints

Sebastiano Vini settled in Pistoia and was active there. He was influenced by the Florentine masters of the High Renaissance - Andrea del Sarto and Fra Bartolomeo - and Mannerism - Pontormo, Bronzino and Vasari. The present work, depicting the Madonna with the Child, the Young John the Baptist and Sts Elisabeth, Jerome and Augustine, shows these effects.

The painting is a characteristic work painted in the Mannerist style. The unusual colours and forms, the figures’ unnatural, twisted poses and the arbitrary spatial arrangement are typical. St Elizabeth places her arm lightly on the shoulder of the Virgin, the gesture is echoed in the embrace of their children. The figures enclosed in the large pink cloud seem as if they appeared to St Jerome, in his vision, and to St Augustine, in his thoughts.

The painter of the work can be identified on the basis of the monogram BV (Bastiano Vini or Veronese) at the bottom.