Madonna and Child, Angels and Saints Francis, Dominic, Magdalen and the donor Cecilia Bargellini Boncompagni (Madonna dei Bargellini)

The altarpiece with the Madonna, Child and Saints Francis, Dominic, and Magdalen is the first signed and dated by Ludovico Carracci, who made it for the Bargellini family of Bologna.

The family was tied to the late Pope, Gregory XIII, also Bolognese, through the relationship with the client, Cecilia Bargellini Boncompagni, here shown kneeling at the centre with her hands clasped, as a Carmelite nun.

The work originally stood on the altar of the Boncompagni Chapel in the church of Santi Filippo e Giacomo, on Via delle Lame, also known as “delle convertite”, named after the adjacent convent of the Carmelite Nuns.

Mary, seated on a high throne, adorned by the heraldic dragon of the pope's family, is portrayed as a humble queen, barefoot with a florid face, as she is being crowned by angels in flight; the view from beneath and looking upward makes it tangible and realistic.

The Madonna has her cheek against the Child's and watches us with a direct gaze. Jesus, restless in his mother's lap blesses, while, like a party, the angels sing to the sweet sound of the lute or scatter incense and flowers.

The faithful are called to participate in the event, thanks to the continuity between the painted space and the real world, obtained through the saints’ eloquent gestures.

St. Francis is deeply concentrated on contemplating the Virgin and Child. Saint Dominic, however, turns to the faithful and points out the mother and son to them with an emphatic gesture.

Mary Magdalen, the redeemed prostitute figure par excellence, isolated on the right, seems to be indicating to the Holy family the penitents in prayer beyond the borders of the painting. Her presence is a clear reference to the convent’s function as a charitable refuge for repentant prostitutes.

Justified in the same light is the presence of the holy water and holy water sprinkler at the feet of the Virgin, clear symbols of purification.

Despite the strong human characterization of the saints, like the heavily-lined face of St. Francis or the resolute gaze of St. Dominic, the only true portrait is that of the elderly Cecilia Bargellini Boncompagni, who commissioned the painting, and on whose profile the painter does not fail to record a small wart above her mouth. The sacred characters are offered to the observer in the most confidential and engaging manner, under a portico that alludes to those in the city, beyond which rise the familiar towers of Bologna.