Antonio de Solario, 'The Virgin and Child with Saint John', perhaps about 1500-10

Solario most probably trained as a painter in Venice where he would have been aware of the works of Giovanni Bellini, its most highly regarded painter. His earliest works, like this picture, reflect the influence of Bellini’s images of the Virgin and Child that were made for private worship. The holy figures stand before a vast landscape with mountains, the most distant of which are clothed in haze, and the view is partially obscured by a hanging – all features that are found in Bellini’s paintings.

Christ stands on the stone parapet which separates us from the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin. Even though he is an infant here, John is shown wearing the camel-skin tunic and holding the reed cross that refer to his time in the desert, when he prophesied about Christ’s ministry. Just visible on the curled up scroll on the parapet next to him is the Latin word ‘Ecce’, the beginning of the phrase John spoke about Christ (John 1: 29 and 36), referring to his future sacrifice: Ecce Agnus Dei (‘Behold the Lamb of God’). Solario’s signature appears on a fictive piece of paper seemingly attached to the parapet.

Christ’s nakedness and his standing pose draw attention to his body, important for Christians as a reminder of his physical suffering; his crossed feet are a reminder of their position on the Cross. The two boys play with a bird, which Christ holds on a string as John presents it with a dragonfly to eat. Birds could symbolise the soul and this depiction might express Christ’s command over it.