Madonna mit Kind und Stifter

For a long time the man kneeling at the left of this small devotional panel was taken simply for Saint Joseph. Then an X-ray told a stranger story. Beneath the surface Bramantino had first painted Joseph, then reworked the head into a specific living face, most likely Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the Milanese general and statesman who was his most important patron. The features match the portrait on Trivulzio's tomb. Bramantino made the panel in Milan around 1503, small enough to be held or set up for prayer in a private room. The Madonna and Child sit in a shadowy architectural space that the artist, who worked as much in building as in painting, renders with a cool, exact geometry.