Federico Barocci (1535 - 1612) , scope of Holy Family Ink, pencil, white lead and chalk on paper, applied to cardboard backing sheet 32,7 x 26,5 Other inscriptions: on the verso of the frame, inscription in black ink 'Morichi' (?) Distinctive elements: on the side of the frame, a collection plate with the inventory reference '241' Provenance: Counts Morichi, Macerata (possible); Toraldo d'Aragnona, barons of Badolato and princes of Massa Lubrense, by descent Conservation status. Support: 65% (re-covering, loss of portions of the paper, damage from woodworm, humidity, rodents and overexposure to light) Conservation status. Surface: 75% (abrasions, undulations, moisture damage, retouches and additions) The Madonna, crowned, leafs through the Holy Book, holding Jesus to her breast: Joseph and a prophet (or an evangelist) observe, with an emotional distance - suggesting contemplation and questioning - far greater than the physical space separating them from the event. The scene is framed by a curtain, according to an expedient of Venetian derivation, while the background hints at the steps of a temple under construction. The coming of Christ, the bond between Mother and Child and the foundation of the Church are proposed by the painter as a single fact. The stroke is effective, the suggestion of movement is everywhere, starting with Mary who appears almost to rise, also thanks to the skilful chalk highlights. The invention is certainly original, as suggested by the numerous pentimenti (among all, the Child's head and the Saint's foot), and the squaring indicates its large format destination, probably for an altarpiece. The sheet, also in its physiognomies, recalls the manner of Federico Barocci - here is the setting of the "Madonna and Child between Saints Gerontius and Mary Magdalene and a family of devotees (Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni, Rome) -, but differs from him in terms of execution, due to a less vaporous and faster style, suggesting a collocation close to the master's first activity, if not in the previous generation of artists, who flourished between Romagna and Marche. The annotation 'Morichi' on the verso of the frame is significant, and may refer to the Morichi family of San Ginesio, near Macerata, which flourished around 1520, when the city became the main political and administrative centre of the Marche region. At least two stays by Barocci in Macerata are remembered, the first around 1585 and the second, around 1605, to which dates back, according to Bellori, a large canvas for the high altar of the Capuchin church, with the "Concezione, con gloria di angeli, San Francesco, San Giovanni Battista, San Bonaventura e San Antonio da Padova (Giovanni Spadoni, "Federico Barocci a Macerata e il bozzetto di un quadro incendiato dai Francesi nel 1799", pp. 86-92, in "Studi e notizie di Federico Barocci", edited by the Brigata urbinate degli amici dei monumenti, Florence, 1913).