The Madonna of Humility
A woman sits in the center of this vertical panel painting and gazes down at a baby lying across her lap while two winged angels hold up a red, gold, and black brocade-like patterned cloth behind her. All the people have pale skin, pink cheeks, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. The woman’s body is angled slightly to our right, and she holds her hands crossed over her chest as she gazes down at the baby. The woman has a straight, pointed nose and a small, pink-lipped mouth. Her azure-blue robe covers her head and drapes over much of the crimson-red dress beneath. The edge of the robe and cuff of her dress are trimmed in gold. The baby lies with his arms slightly raised, and he looks up at the woman. His hips and legs are wrapped with sheer white cloth. The angels in the upper corners of the panel both wear robes in the same azure blue of the woman, and the garments have a gold band around the high waist and gold around the neckline. They look at the woman and hold up the cloth that falls behind and under her and the baby.
Details
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- painted surface: 60.7 x 45.2 cm (23 7/8 x 17 13/16 in.) support: 62.8 x 47.2 cm (24 3/4 x 18 9/16 in.)
- Department
- CIS-R
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
10 tags
Subject Matter
-
Madonna and Child Both · 100%
The title identifies the Madonna and Child, and the image visibly shows a seated woman with a baby reclining across her lap.
Styles and Movements
-
Early Renaissance Interpretive · 82%
The date, attribution to Fra Angelico, tempera-on-panel format, gold ground, halos, and stylized yet modeled figures are consistent with Early Renaissance painting; the museum metadata does not itself list a style.
Visual Qualities
-
Highly Ornamented Visual · 98%
The gold-toned ground, large halos, patterned textile, ornamental garment borders, and repeated decorative motifs create an extensively embellished surface.
-
Patterns Visual · 99%
Repeated red scrolls, black motifs, and other decorative forms cover the ground and textile held behind the central figures.
-
Flatness Visual · 90%
The composition is predominantly surface-oriented: the figures and patterned ground occupy nearly the entire panel, with limited spatial recession behind them.
Medium and Techniques
-
Painting Metadata · 100%
The museum classifies the object as a painting.
-
Tempera Metadata · 100%
The museum specifies tempera on panel as the medium.
-
Gold Leaf and Gilding Visual · 86%
The ground and halos have the appearance of extensive gilded decoration, although the exact material and technique are not separately specified in the metadata.
Time Periods
-
15th Century Art Metadata · 100%
The museum dates the work to approximately 1430, placing it in the fifteenth century.
Cultural and Religious Styles
-
Christian Art and Architecture Both · 99%
The Madonna and Child, halos, and winged angels clearly establish Christian devotional imagery, consistent with the museum title and subject.
Source & rights
Fra Angelico. The Madonna of Humility. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.