Madonna and Child
Shown from the waist up, a young woman embraces a baby in this vertical painting. They both have peachy skin, reddish-blond hair, and round faces. The woman is angled to our left and almost takes up the height of the painting. She looks down with gray eyes through lowered lids, under slender, arched brows. She has a straight nose and her pale pink lips are closed. Barely visible, a thin dotted white line spans her brow. A few loose, copper-colored tendrils frame her face under an azure-blue mantle that drapes over her head, shoulders, and arms. Under the mantle she wears a brick-red robe with a stylized, plant-like pattern in gold on the upper bodice and the cuff we can see. Her left elbow, on our right, rests on a sage-green ledge that runs along the bottom edge of the composition, and that hand dangles over the child’s leg. Her other hand curves around the baby’s back. The child is turned to our right to face the woman. He is wrapped in a cloak the same red as the woman's robe, and it has a thin gold border. He sits on a kelly-green cushion resting along the left side of the ledge. His head is turned to gaze off to our right with large hazel eyes under thin brows. He has a button nose and a rosy flush around his small pink mouth, which is slightly open. His right hand dips into the woman’s neckline while the other arm embraces her neck. His right leg stretches out toward her so one pudgy foot peeks out from under the red cloth. The horizon of the landscape behind them comes halfway up the painting. Sloping fields are dotted with trees. Low hills are ice blue in the hazy distance along the horizon, and the sky above is nearly white near the mountains, deepening to pale blue along the top edge.
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Dimensions
- painted surface: 58.1 x 43.2 cm (22 7/8 x 17 in.) overall: 58.9 x 43.7 cm (23 3/16 x 17 3/16 in.) framed: 86.7 x 74.8 x 8.3 cm (34 1/8 x 29 7/16 x 3 1/4 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 · 100%
The catalog title identifies the subject as Madonna and Child, and the image clearly shows a woman embracing a baby.
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Human Figure Visual · 99%
Two recognizable human figures—the woman and child—dominate the composition.
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Landscapes Visual · 98%
Fields, trees, low hills, and an open pale-blue sky are visible behind the figures.
Visual Qualities
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Bright and Vivid Colors Visual · 91%
Saturated blue and red draperies, green foreground elements, and gold-brown patterned fabric provide strong color contrasts.
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Highly Detailed Visual · 86%
The patterned garment, layered drapery, modeled faces and hands, and small landscape details are rendered with sustained descriptive attention.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Both · 100%
The museum classifies the work as a painting, and the catalog records a painted surface in oil and tempera on panel transferred from panel.
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Oil Painting Metadata · 98%
The catalog specifies oil and tempera on panel transferred from panel; oil painting is therefore a documented component of the technique, though not the sole medium.
Time Periods
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15th Century Art Metadata · 100%
The catalog dates the work to circa 1475, placing it in the fifteenth century.
Source & rights
Antonello da Messina. Madonna and Child. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.