Madonna and Child with Saint John the Evangelist

This painting is a rare and pivotal early work by one of the most important artists of the sixteenth century. Rosso audaciously placed the half-length figure of Saint John the Evangelist at the forefront of the composition, which was later painted over. His reappearance during a recent conservation treatment allows us to identify this painting as the work that Giorgio Vasari, Rosso's first biographer, describes as launching the artist's career. Even more boldly, John's fiery hair may indicate a disguised self-portrait by the artist, whose popular name translates as "the redhead from Florence." The striking contortion and musculature of the Christ child and the tension and instability of the composition are signature elements of the daring new style art historians refer to as Mannerism.