Terms and conditions of use
Madonna and Child
(early 15th century)
- Medium
- oil, tempera and gold leaf on wood panel
- Measurements
- 121.7 × 67.3 cm
- Accession Number
- 557-4
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 14th - 16th Century Gallery - Painting & Decorative Arts
Level 1, NGV International - About this work
-
Byzantine icons of the Mother of God were prized in medieval and early Renaissance Italy, where they were made a focus of Marian devotions. Over time Italian artists developed touching variations of their own on the venerated subject of the Virgin and Child. The Florentine painter Giotto (1266-/7–1337), ushered in a new and graceful Gothic naturalism, later adopted by Agnolo Gaddi and Giovanni Toscani. The inclusion of ‘pseudo-kufic’ script in decorative bands and in haloes is characteristic of Toscani’s devotional paintings, and reflects the popular belief that Medieval Middle-Eastern scripts were the same as those used in Jesus’s time and by early Christians.
- Subjects (general)
- Human Figures Religion and Mythology
- Subjects (specific)
- Blessed Virgin Mary (Christian character) Christ Child (Christian theme) gold (colour) halos (glories) icons (devotional images) infants Madonna and Child (Christian theme) Mother and Child (miscellaneous theme)