_Girolamo Giovenone_ (Lombard: early 16th Century).
Giovenone was a native of Vercelli, in which city several fine
pictures by him are preserved. Other painters who worked, or
were born, at Vercelli are Macrino d' Alba (1200), Lanini
(700), and Gaudenzio Ferrari (1465). By some critics our
picture is assigned to another painter of the same school,
Defendente Ferrari (see Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts
Club's Exhibition, 1898, p. lxxix.). Examples of both painters
may be seen in the Turin Gallery.
The Virgin and Child are flanked by the kneeling figures of two men,
perhaps brothers, who were doubtless the donors of the picture. Behind
each of them stands his patron saint, patting the devotee approvingly
on the back. The Virgin's face is charming; so also are two little
angels, who are quaintly perched up aloft, one on either side sitting
on ledges of the canopied throne. The picture is a good example of
symmetry--almost exaggerated, one may think--in composition.