Madonna with Green Cushion ~ Andrea Solario Antique Print

Beautiful folio size antique photogravure print from the picture by Andrea Solario (click thumbnails above for larger size image).

Printed on heavyweight cream stock. Plate mark present. Reverse side is blank.

It's hard to appreciate the stunning detail and clarity of this print until you see it in person.

The Madonna with the Green Cushion is one of Solario's most celebrated pictures, and is full of a maternal tenderness that is supremely affecting. Lifting the child slightly with her right hand from the green cushion where he lies, the Madonna bends over to nurse him. Behind them is a mass of foliage on each side of which a distant landscape can be seen. The child has a round little body of most bewitching curves, and modelled with the fullness and freedom of a hand sure and supple. His baby-like attitude as he grabs his right foot and strikes out into the air with the other, is more naturalistic than would have seemed possible to painters even a few years before Solario's time. As unconventional and natural is the baby's beautiful head with its thick, long curls, its broad forehead, its questioning eyes. Mary, as she leans over, is equally lovely. Her soft hair, rolling off her forehead, is mostly hidden by a thick white drapery. Nothing more appealing than her love-lit face can be imagined, drawn as it is with an exquisiteness of line only matched by its spiritual expression.

Title: The Virgin with the Green Cushion

Publication: Great Masters in the Louvre Gallery

Publication Year: 1899-1900

Publisher: D. Appleton & Goupil & Co. (New York & Paris)

Approximate Page Size (in inches): 12½ x 16¾

Approximate Image Size (in inches): 10 x 12½

Condition: EX. Very clean.