Luciani, Sebastiano detto Sebastiano del Piombo

Sebastiano Luciani detto Sebastiano del Piombo (around 1485 Venice -1547 Rome)

Madonna with Veil, (around 1520)

oil on poplar wood; 120.5×92.5 cm, signed: SEBASTIANUS FACIEBAT, acquired in 1673, Olomouc Archbishopric – Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum, inv. no. A 1076

The Madonna with Veil, one of the best works acquired in 1673 by Bishop Karl II von Lichtenstein-Castelkorno from the Imstenraed brothers‘ collection. It is one of the few paintings that has never been moved away and it has always remained in the collection of the Bishops of Olomouc. The works of the painter Sebastiano Luciani, known as del Piombo, are distinguished by a harmonious fusion of the painting traditions of Venice and Rome. The figure and face of the Virgin reflect the influence of Michelangelos noble women, but at the same time the painting is outstanding in its tender Raphaelesque lyricism. The refined colour harmony of cool shades and a mother-of-pearl flesh colour develops the famous Venetian feeling for work with colour. The meditative motif of Christs mother awake over the sleeping Jesus Child is an expression on a deeper theological level. The illusory idyll hides the foreknowledge of the Lamentation over Christs dead body.

Gabriela Elbelová