Francesco Vanni (1563 - 26 October 1610)
1593
Further evidence of the great Carmelite devotion to the Virgin Mary is found in the altarpiece of the Sienese painter Francesco Vanni, to the right of the high altar. It portrays Saint Albert , in the Carmelite habit, Saint Stephen holding the palm of martyrdom, Saint Martha and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, all in adoration of the Virgin and Child, while overhead some angels hold a drape. This work was made specifically to include a thirteenth-century panel in the centre, which represents the Virgin and Child, a copy of the original Madonna dei Mantellini on display in the Pinacoteca.
The iconographic style of this Virgin and Child is the equivalent of the Byzantine model of the Virgin of Loving Tenderness: it is a half-length portrait of Mary holding the Child in her arms, clutching Him affectionately; in tilting her head her cheek brushes against her Son’s one, who responds by laying His hand on his mother. The Virgin is wearing a veil trimmed with a golden hem and a two-tone cap on her head. The Son, who loving gazes at Mary, is clothed in a purple red robe, the colour of blood that preannounces His sacrifice, just as the position of his crossed feet refer to the Crucifixion. The rolled parchment in his hand instead is a symbol of the Old Testament, overtaken by His coming.