The Virgin and Child with a Shoot of Olive
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The Virgin and Child with a Shoot of Olive is an oil on panel painting by Andrea Previtali, executed in 1512–1513, one of 192 paintings donated to the National Gallery, London in 1910 as part of the George Salting collection.[1] The work was originally commissioned by the Gozzi family.[citation needed]
The painting is a work by Andrea Previtali commissioned by the Gozzi family in 1512–13, a period in which the artist, born in Bergamo but who had moved with his family to Venice at a young age and become a pupil of Giovanni Bellini, whose influence he strongly felt, had returned to his hometown. With the Venetian domination having created a new Bergamasque bourgeoisie that had enriched itself through the trade of woolen cloths and other goods, it became customary to commission paintings from new artists coming from Venice, both to ingratiate themselves with the new rulers and to emulate the prestigious old families of the city. The new families wanted to rise to prominence in city politics.
The Gozzi family originated from the Seriana Valley, and moved to Venice to engage in the trade of oil and leather. In 1445, Pezolo di Alzano had defended the Venetian Republic at his own expense during the war with Milan; Zanin Gozzi, who moved to Venice in 1515, was descended from this branch of the family.[2] The family coat of arms consists of an olive tree growing in a field with a silver dove holding an olive branch in its beak. There seems to be little doubt about the commission of this painting, although it is believed that Previtali returned to Bergamo at the invitation of the Casotti de Mazzoleni family, who commissioned many paintings and the frescoes present in Palazzo Zogna from him.[3][4]