Studies for the Virgin and Saints in the Nativity (interior of shutter of the organ in Milan Cathedral) 1592 - 1595

Giovanni Ambrogio Figino created this study for the Virgin and Saints in the Nativity with pen and ink on blue paper, sometime around the late 16th century. Figino, a painter in Milan during the late Renaissance, was working in a world increasingly shaped by the Catholic Church’s renewed emphasis on religious imagery. These rapidly drawn sketches offer an intimate glimpse into Figino’s process of imagining sacred figures. The detailed studies of hands draw attention to the human, embodied nature of faith. We see the artist grappling with how to represent devotion, humility, and grace through the gestures and postures of the Virgin and Saints. The delicate blue paper lends a dreamlike quality to the sketches, hinting at the ethereal realm these figures inhabit. Figino’s work invites us to consider the role of art in shaping religious and cultural identities. It asks: How do artists navigate the tensions between tradition, innovation, and personal expression when representing widely venerated archetypes?