Madonna and Child with Saint Martina

Madonna and Child with Saint Martina, painted around 1645, combines Cortona's devotion to the Virgin with his personal veneration of Saint Martina, whose relics he had discovered during the rebuilding of Santi Luca e Martina. The painting's acquisition by the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth testifies to the international appreciation for Cortona's refined devotional paintings. Characteristic of Cortona's approach, the work displays exuberant illusionism, dynamic compositions, rich color, grand decorative schemes.

The intimate devotional composition pairs the Madonna and Child with the martyr saint in a carefully balanced arrangement. Cortona's characteristically warm palette and soft modeling create an atmosphere of serene devotion, with rich fabrics and luminous flesh tones.