Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Throughout most of his working life, Jacopo Bassano remained in his birthplace, the small town of Bassano del Grappa in the mainland territory of the Venetian Republic. The rich colors and textural brushstrokes in his paintings, however, are also characteristic of contemporary painters working in the city of Venice itself. His engagement with the work of two such artists, Titian and Paolo Veronese, is evident in the flickering highlights that here animate the Virgin’s robes and the rich red hanging. The slender proportions of the Madonna’s head and neck, on the other hand, are more characteristic of the highly artificial and refined style known as Mannerism.