The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Other Saints

Francesco Francia painted this Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Other Saints around 1514 for the National Gallery. Francia's late career saw him maintaining the refined Bolognese devotional style he had established, even as the arrival of Raphael's Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia in 1515 would transform Bolognese artistic expectations. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

The altarpiece demonstrates Francia's characteristic enamel-like surface and symmetrical composition, with the refined craftsmanship and luminous palette that reflect his goldsmith's training applied to the sacra conversazione format.