JOOS VAN CLEVE (workshop of) (Antwerp, ca. 1485 - 1540/1) Baby Jesus and St. John Oil on panel, 67X58 cm Provenance: Genoa, Gerolamo Balbi collection Genoa, Marquis Zoagli Collection Genoa, Mameli Collection Genoa, Private Collection Bibliography: F. Alizeri, Guida artistica per la città di Genova, Genoa 1847, II, p. 1349 P. Boccardo, Flemish paintings of the second half of the 16th century in Genoa: the role of a Balbi collection, in Pittura fiamminga in Liguria. Secoli XIV-XVII, edited by P. Boccardo, C. Di Fabio, L. Tagliaferro, Milan 1997, p. 160, notes 26-27; p. 164, fig. 12 G. Zanelli, Pittura Fiamminga a Genova all'inizio del XVI Secolo: il 'caso' Joos van Cleve, in Joos van Cleve e Genova. Intorno al Ritratto di Stefano Raggio, exhibition catalogue edited by F. Simonetti, G. Zanelli, Florence 2003, pp. 63-64 note 141 (cited) G. Zanelli, nell'Età di Rubens, exhibition catalogue edited by P. Boccardo with the collaboration of C. Di Fabio, A. Orlando and F. Simonetti, Milan 2004, pp. 182-183, n. 22 Coming from the collection of Gerolamo Balbi, the painting is recorded in the inventory of 1649 as 'Christo and S. Gio. Batta nude above a green cossino from Antwerp'. The iconography of the embrace between the Child Jesus and St. John is due to a prototype by Leonardo da Vinci, of whom many memories remain in his graphic and pictorial production, as well as in that of his pupils (cf. F. Moro, Spunti sulla diffusione di un tema leonardesco tra Italia e Fiandra fino a Lanino, in I leonardeschi a Milano: fortuna e collezionismo, atti del convegno internazionale, Milano 25-26 settembre 1990, a cura di M. T. Fiorio e P.C. Marani, Milano 1991, pp. 120-140), while the inspiration is taken from the apocryphal text of the Meditationes Vitae Christi by Pseudo-Bonaventura dating back to the early 14th century. The image was very popular in the Lombardy area, but was equally successful in Flanders, by Quentin Matsys and especially thanks to Joos van Cleve. In this regard, there is an immediate comparison between our work and the autograph one kept at the Art Institute of Chicago, dated by critics between 1620 and 1625, (oil on panel, 74.7x57.6 cm; cf. J. Oliver Hand, Joos van Cleve: The Complete Paintings, New Haven and London 2004, pp. 98-99, 164, no. 81, fig. 104), but there are many replicas made by the master's workshop, such as the one kept at the National Museum of Capodimonte (cf. B. Molajoli, Notizie su Capodimonte. Catalogo delle Gallerie e del Museo, Naples 1964, p. 43), as are the analogies with the one sold at Sotheby's in New York on 25 January 2001, lot 33.