Madonna mit dem heiligen Petrus und einem Stifter (nach Palma Vecchio)

In 1864 Schack sent the young Marées to Rome to further his artistic education by copying Old Masters. The painter produced only the four replicas displayed here, complaining to Schack in 1865 that ‘an activity like this can never be very stimulating or worthwhile’. Palma Vecchio’s picture was originally a private devotional image, probably commissioned by the donor depicted in the left foreground. It is a sacra conversazione, a type of image featuring the Virgin and Child with saints that was popular in Venice, where Palma Vecchio worked.