Oil Painting, 'Virgin and Child with St Joseph', Follower of Denys Calvaert, late 18th century

The Virgin is seated with the infant Christ on her lap beside a curtain that has been drawn back; St Joseph stands in the background at left.

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.
Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.'

Historical significance: This painting was acquired as by Lodovico Carracci (1555-1619) by the reverend Townshend who then bequeathed it to the museum. C. M. Kauffmann generically catalogued it as 'Italian school of the 17th century'.
This composition shows however many similarities with the art of Denys Calvaert, a Flemish born painter, who was exclusively active in Bologna.
The elongated nose and limbs of the Virgin as well as the pinkish round face of the Child are common features of his manner, especially in such works as The Holy Family with the Infant St John the Baptist, ca. 1590-1600, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (NG 2447), in which the poses of the Virgin and Child are also quite close, and St Francis Receiving the Christ Child from the Virgin, Bob Jones University Museum, Greenville.
The delicate modelling of the faces as well as the pink touches on the Child's cheeks are reminiscent of the contemporary technique of Federico Barocci (1528-1612). The palette here employed is slightly darker than Calvaert's usual colour scheme although it recalls such picture as Judith with the Head of Holophernes, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, in which a brownish red tonality dominates. Moreover Judith's face is surprisingly similar to the present Virgin's while the heavy red curtain also appears in the background.
This painting appears therefore as an imitation of Calvaert's art, combining several compositional ideas of Calvaert's oeuvre composed almost exclusively of religious works, ranging in size from vast altarpieces to small devotional pictures.

Objects and images were used for protection, intercession and as votive offerings since Antiquity. Amulets, rings and talismans were common throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and often had 'pagan' (non-Christian) and erotic imagery. Popular images were also produced expressly for the purpose of intercession, protection and instruction. In particular the Virgin, Christ and the saints were depicted, for they were considered to be advocates before God and agents of protection against evil. Christians in the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods expressed and strengthened their faith through public rituals, such as celebration of the Eucharist, and personal devotions conducted in a private chapel, monastic cell, or simply in a secluded part of their home. In Western Europe, a form of spirituality that emphasized the emotional involvement of the faithful emerged by 1300. Believers were encouraged to contemplate events from the life of Christ, the Virgin, or the saints, as if they were present. Images of the Virgin and Child were among the most popular images for private devotion and these were primarily small religious paintings suitable as a focus for private worship, as opposed to larger altarpieces intended for public display. Such images frequently emphasized the tender relationship between the mother and her child.

Acquired as by Lodovico Carracci, this appears to be an early 19th century copy of an Italian composition of the 17th century, but the original has not been traced.

Denys Calvaert called Dionisio Fiammingo (1540-1619) was born in Antwerp where he was a pupil of the landscape painter Kerstiaen van Queboorn (1515-78). Around 1560, he settled in Bologna where he entered the workshop of Prospero Fontana (1512-1597). He later worked with Lorenzo Sabatini (ca. 1520-1576) and in 1572 accompanied him to Rome where he remained for two years. Upon his return to Bologna he founded a school of painting in which he trained Guido Reni (1575-1642) and Domenichino (1581-1641) among others.

This painting showing the Virgin holding the Child with St Joseph in the left background is an imitation of the art of Denys Calvaert who specialised in small devotional paintings. The quality of the picture is rather good although does not reach the refinement of Calvaert's technique. The painting may therefore have been executed in the late 18th century looking back to late 16th-century compositions.

1357-1869