Antoniazzo Romano (attrib.)
Madonna and Child with Saints
15th century
Fresco
Church of SS. Vitus and Modestus, Rome
In her customary blue mantle and red robe, the Virgin is flanked by St. Vitus's nurse and tutor, Saints Crescentia and Modestus. The skirt on the child is unusual for this era, when he was most often pictured naked.
In the lower half St. Vitus is portrayed at right as a youth. This is customary, even though the hagiographical material makes him a child of about seven. At his feet is his attribute, a dog. On the left is St. Sebastian, as usual tied almost naked to a tree and pierced by arrows. St. Margaret of Antioch is in the middle. The tail of her dragon is just visible above the left end of the break in the fresco.
In 1902 Angeli (603) dated the fresco as 15th century and attributed it to Antoniazzo. He notes many features of Antoniazzo's other work that can be seen here: the hard lines of the eyebrows, the long faces, Mary's hands, etc. But in 1907 Everett (304) listed the fresco among recently attributed works "still under discussion."
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Read more about St. Vitus, St. Sebastian, St. Margaret of Antioch, and the Madonna and Child.
Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.