Madonna and Child with Two Angels

In the summer of 1770 Mengs came to Florence with leave from the king of Spain, on one condition. He was to paint the small children of the grand duke of Tuscany, the king's grandchildren, and send the portraits back to Madrid.

This Madonna comes from the same years, dated by the Vienna museum to around 1770 to 1773, and from the same household. It belonged to the grand duchess, Maria Ludovica, and in 1773 in Florence it passed from her to her husband, Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. It is painted on walnut, a panel just over a metre high, meant to be seen from close by. The Virgin, in rose and blue, looks straight out at us. The Child sits on her arm with one hand opened toward the viewer, and at the edges of the picture stand two angels, one with his hands pressed together in prayer, the other in profile, looking away to the right.