This superbly preserved early work by the Haarlem Mannerist painter Cornelis van Haarlem represents and unusual duality: it is both an Allegory of Summer and a Madonna and Child with the young John the Baptist. Dating from relatively soon after the artist’s return to his native city from a period of study in Rouen and Antwerp, the work reflects a range of international influences and is an important rediscovery by this innovative Dutch Golden Age painter.

A pupil of Pieter Pietersz in Haarlem, Cornelis van Haarlem – like his contemporaries among the Northern Mannerists – was influenced by the work of Prague Court artist Bartholomeus Spranger, whose drawings had been brought to Haarlem in 1585 by the Flemish art historian Carel van Mander. Van Haarlem had recently enjoyed a period of study in Rouen and then in Antwerp, with the Flemish-Italianate painter Gillis Coignet, in 1580-81, and upon his return to Haarlem, he sought to fuse the diverse and innovative styles to which he had been exposed. Thus, early works, like this Allegory of Summer, combine the elegant elongation of Parmigianino – seen here, for instance, in the long neck of the Madonna – with the smooth, sculptural modelling borrowed from Spranger and the fine detail of the Northern still life tradition. At the same time, there are painterly elements characteristic of Van Haarlem’s early manner, as seen in the curling locks of hair and the folds of drapery.

In his 1999 catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work, Pieter van Thiel compared the work to a Holy Family dated 1589, noting in particular the lighting, rich contrasts, and broad handling. He also compared the composition to an engraving by Lucas Kilian of a lost Holy Family by Van Haarlem, which he postulates must also have been very similar in date. What is particularly unusual about this work is its merging of a religious work with an allegory. John the Baptist, who leans in from the left, presents to the infant Christ a plate bearing green and red grapes and two ears of corn, representing the harvest. The grapes for which Christ reaches are also symbolic of the Eucharist wine that is transformed into the blood of His sacrifice. From a visual perspective, the still life also represents a particularly fine passage of painting, with the reflections glinting on the surface of the grapes echoing the reflection on the pearl earring worn by the Virgin.

The earliest recorded owner of this painting was the architect and collector Luigi Moretti, who lived at Via Napoleone III in Rome. A label on the reverse of the work notes that he was the lender to the 1952 exhibition Fontainebleau e la Maniera, so it must have been acquired prior to this point. There is then no further evidence of the painting’s appearance at auction until it was sold in 2024, so it may well have descended in Moretti’s family. The archives of the RKD note the painting’s whereabouts in 1999 as a private Milanese collection.