Shop art print and framed art Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri) by Caravaggio

The Madonna of the Grooms (Italian: Madonna dei Palafrenieri), also known as The Madonna of the Snake, is a painting by Caravaggio painted between 1605 and 1606. It depicts a Trinitarian Saint Anne and is kept in the Borghese Gallery in Rome. On 31 October 1605, the Archconfraternity of the Palafreniers (it) commissioned Caravaggio to decorate the altar of the Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri chapel in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The painting, completed in the last quarter of 1605, was paid to Caravaggio on 8 April 1606, and placed on the altar of the confraternity. However, the public hanging of the painting caused a scandal, and it was rejected (not by the recipients, but by the cardinal lords of St. Peter's) on account of the nudity chosen by the painter for a child who was too tall, with an uncertain pose, and the deep cleavage of the Virgin, as well as for its lack of decorum. Removed eight days after its installation, it was moved to the church of Sainte-Anne-des-Palefreniers, then sold for one hundred ecus to the pope's nephew, Cardinal Scipio Borghese, on 20 July 1606. It thus passed into his private collection in the Galleria Borghese. Caravaggio's subject is Mary, in the centre left, supporting her son, depicted as quite tall and naked, who is pressing his foot against hers to crush a snake. Saint Anne, the patron saint of the grooms of Rome (who commissioned the work), is shown pensively with her hands clasped, as an old woman dressed in dark clothing, in contrast to [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the baroque style.

 

« Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri) » is kept at Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy.

 

Find the full description of Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri) by Caravaggio on Wikipedia.