Madonna and Child with Donor
Shown from the hips up, a young woman holds an upright baby against a richly patterned gold background in this vertical panel painting, which comes to a point at the top center. The woman nearly fills the panel, and she looms over a very small man kneeling in the lower left, facing our right in profile. The people all have ivory-white skin with a greenish cast, and petal-pink cheeks. The woman’s body faces us, supporting the baby in the curve of her left arm, our right. Thin, tawny-brown eyebrows arch over her hazel, almond-shaped eyes, which gaze off to our right. She has a long, narrow nose and small rose-pink mouth. Her head tilts to our right and is covered by an ivory-white cloth that frames her round face and wraps around the neckline of her burgundy-red gown. Over the white cloth and red dress, a long, midnight-blue mantle trimmed with gold covers her head, shoulders, and arms. A gold starburst adorns one shoulder. Tucked in the woman’s elbow to our right, the baby faces our left and wears a sheer garment covered by a burgundy-red, gold-edged cloth draped across his shoulders, back, and legs. The child has short, wavy, peach-colored hair and echos the woman’s thin eyebrows and hazel eyes. He reaches out with his right hand, to our left, to clutch her scarf while his other hand delicately touches the fingers of her hand, which brushes his chest. The man in the lower left is significantly smaller in scale so his kneeling body comes only up to the woman's elbow. His blond hair is cut in a ring above the ears, and he wears a dove-gray cloak with a long hood falling back over his shoulders. His right hand is raised, fingers extended, and he tilts his head up to look at the woman. Intricate, patterned halos surrounding the heads of the woman and child are punched and incised into the gold background. A decorative border of flowers, leaves, and dots line the sides of the panel and meet at the pointed top. Areas of brick red show through some areas of the gold background.
Details
- Palette
-
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- Medium
- tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- painted surface: 50.8 × 23.5 cm (20 × 9 1/4 in.) overall: 51.5 × 24.2 × 0.5 cm (20 1/4 × 9 1/2 × 3/16 in.) framed: 70 x 36.2 x 5.1 cm (27 9/16 x 14 1/4 x 2 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
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Madonna and Child Both · 100%
The title identifies the Madonna and Child, and the image visibly shows a woman holding a child in a sacred, haloed composition.
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Deities and Holy Figures Both · 99%
The Madonna and Child are presented as haloed sacred figures, while the catalog title establishes their Christian subject.
Styles and Movements
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Medieval Art Metadata · 98%
The work is dated 1325/1330, placing it within the medieval period.
Visual Qualities
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 99%
The panel is richly ornamented with patterned garments, punched and incised halos, floral borders, dots, and geometric motifs.
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Patterns Visual · 99%
Repeated floral, leaf, dotted, geometric, and textile-like motifs cover the border, halos, garments, and surrounding ground.
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Dense Composition Visual · 95%
The narrow panel is densely occupied by the monumental Madonna and Child, their garments and halos, ornamental borders, and the smaller donor.
Medium and Techniques
Time Periods
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1000 - 1400 CE Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog date of 1325/1330 falls within the catalog’s 1000–1400 CE period category.
Cultural and Religious Styles
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Christian Art and Architecture Both · 99%
The title and imagery identify a Christian Madonna-and-Child scene with halos and devotional presentation.
Source & rights
Lippo Memmi. Madonna and Child with Donor. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.