Seated Mother and Child n.d.

Alessandro Casolani made this red chalk drawing of a seated mother and child sometime between 1560 and 1606. It embodies many of the themes that preoccupied artists in Italy at the time. The idealized figures of the mother and child evoke the religious iconography of the Madonna and Child, but here, in sketch form, they take on a more human quality. Casolani was working at a time when the Catholic Church was a major patron of the arts, and the standards and tastes of the Church shaped what art was made. Artists were employed to teach moral lessons or to elevate the status of the patrons and the Church, and the images they created reinforced strict social and cultural codes. Drawings like this one help us to understand more about the artist’s practice and preparation for larger works, but also the social and institutional forces that shaped artistic production in his time. To understand Casolani's aims better, we might look at other works produced in his region, by his workshop, or for the churches he served.