Masaccio. Madonna del Solletico

Masaccio is the young author of the Madonna and Child, called 'del Sollecito, depicted in a small panel, which is no bigger than a book, an anchor for private devotion. It is amazing to notice how much technical skill and psychological wisdom the artist has been able to instil in this painting, in which the Virgin Mary plays with her Son, caressing him under the chin with two raised fingers. The tender attitude, which evokes the blessing, turns into a tickling, arousing the defensive and amused reaction of the Child expressed with spontaneous laughter and with his hands clinging to His Mother’s wrist. On the back of the panel, there is the coat of arms of the commissioner Antonio Casini, a Prince of the Church nominated cardinal-priest in 1426, the year of the execution of the work. Theologian and humanist, he distinguished himself as a patron of refined works in Siena, Florence, Grosseto and Rome, among which, Masaccio's Madonna is indeed a true sign of Casini's devotion to the Virgin.