Thursday, January 26, 2012

Perino

Went to the Met today to catch some exhibitions closing soon (including Heroic Africans, which I wanted to see a second time), and learned about an Italian mannerist painter named Perino del Vaga (the Met has recently acquired two works of his), including two striking representations of Christ. In "Holy Family with the Infant John the Baptist" (1524-26) he's a deliciously believable baby. (Perino's model may have been his own baby daughter.) And in a "Conversion of Saint Paul" (sorry, my camera does poorly with oils, and there's no image available online), he's middle-aged! And... it's the same face, too!