Madonna and Child and the Infant Saint John in a Landscape
This painting depicts a woman seated outdoors with a baby in her lap on the left and a young child standing nearby on the right. The woman is sitting on the ground, while the baby is facing the right with their arms outstretched. The baby is partially wrapped in a white cloth. The woman has a serene expression and delicate facial features. She is wearing a green and red robe. The young child on the right is holding a small lamb and has curly blond hair. In the upper left corner of the painting, two cherubic faces peer down from a cloud. The background shows a pastoral setting with trees, shrubs, hills, grass patches, and bunnies near the forest edge, under a cloudy sky.
Details
- Palette
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- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 27.7 x 58 cm (10 7/8 x 22 13/16 in.) framed: 39.05 x 69.21 x 4.44 cm (15 3/8 x 27 1/4 x 1 3/4 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
8 tags
Subject Matter
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Madonna and Child Both · 99%
The canonical title identifies the Madonna and Child, and the image shows a seated woman holding a baby in her lap.
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Saints Both · 98%
The canonical title identifies the Infant Saint John, and the image shows a second child holding a lamb.
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Landscapes Both · 99%
The title specifies a landscape, and the image visibly contains trees, shrubs, distant hills, open sky, and blue-green horizontal landscape bands.
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Animals Both · 94%
The image shows a lamb held by the standing child and small pale animals near the wooded area at right; the canonical description identifies the latter as bunnies.
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Figures in Nature Visual · 98%
The Madonna, baby, and standing child are placed directly within a natural setting of vegetation, trees, open ground, and distant terrain.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 93%
Dark greens, browns, muted ochres, blue-green passages, and subdued reds dominate the composition.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The canonical museum metadata classifies the work as a painting made with oil on canvas.
Time Periods
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16th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The canonical date of 1540/1550 places the work in the sixteenth century.
Source & rights
Polidoro Lanzani. Madonna and Child and the Infant Saint John in a Landscape. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.