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Detalle de La Virgen de la leche. Artemisia Gentileschi. 1609-1610. Colección FMCMP
© Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson. Autor: Marcos Morilla

As part of its Christmas programme, the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson is showing, for the first time in Spain, the painting The Virgin Nursing the Child, an early work by Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome, 1593–Naples, after 1654), a leading figure of European Baroque art. It will be on display until 25 January at the FMCMP Centre in Madrid.

The Foundation purchased the painting on the international market, adding it to the small number of works by Artemisia present in Spain. To mark the occasion of its display, the work has been studied by Leticia Ruiz Gómez, PhD in Art History and head of the Spanish Renaissance Painting Department and the Frames Division at the Museo de Prado, who will give a lecture coinciding with the exhibition.

Painted in 1609–1610 when the artist was training in Rome at her father’s studio, The Virgin Nursing the Child provides a fascinating insight into her formative years and the consolidation of a style. The composition represents the iconography of the Virgo lactans, which Gentileschi renders with great sensitivity and a monumentality that already reveals the drawing skills and command of light and dramatic effects that would characterise her mature period.

To mark the occasion of its display, the Foundation has prepared a special Christmas programme for its Madrid centre. On 16 December, Leticia Ruiz Gómez will give a lecture entitled Virgo lactans: Artemisia Gentileschi in the FMCMP Collection, in which she will discuss the iconography of the Virgin breastfeeding, Artemisia’s creative context and the unique value of the painting in the artist’s career. 

In addition, throughout the exhibition of the work, the Foundation will offer a programme of guided tours to invite the general public to learn more about the salient aspects of the work and its context, and a series of tours and workshops for families entitled Christmas Through Colours, which will take place on 20 and 27 December and 3 January.