In putto …century, especially those of the Madonna and Child. With the revival of classical mythological subjects in the late 15th century, Cupid was commonly represented as a putto, and numbers of anonymous putti were frequently depicted in attendance on various immortals. Read More
Renaissance art
depiction of
Holy Family
In Holy Family …major versions, one showing the Virgin and Child with St. Joseph and the other showing the Virgin and Child with the Virgin’s mother, St. Anne. Like a number of other themes dealing with the lives of Christ and the Virgin, the Holy Family gained importance at the end of the… Read More
Madonna
In Madonna Madonna and Child was rare in the first centuries of early Christian art (c. 3rd–6th century). In 431, however, the establishment of Mary’s title of Theotokos (“Mother of God”) definitively affirmed the full deity of Christ. Thereafter, to emphasize this concept, an enthroned Madonna and… Read More
works by
Baldovinetti
In Alessio Baldovinetti …his later works, such as Madonna and Child (c. 1465). Both The Nativity and Madonna include views of the Arno River valley and are among Europe’s earliest paintings of actual landscapes. Read More
Gentile da Fabriano
In Gentile da Fabriano …Polyptych (1425), which show the Mother and Child, regally clad, sitting on the ground in a garden. Read More
Lippi
In Fra Filippo Lippi: Life and works Frediano and Augustin and the Madonna and Child. In both of these altarpieces, the influence of Masaccio is still evident, but it is absorbed into a different style, having the pictorial effect of bas-relief, rendered more evident by lines, so that it resembles the reliefs of the sculptors Donatello and… Read More
Lorenzetti
In Pietro Lorenzetti But the altar’s centrepiece, a Madonna and Child, counters Duccio’s frigidly hierarchical conception of the subject with an intimate depiction of an affectionate mother caressing her mischievously playful baby. Those features, combined with the wealth of decorative detail (recalling Simone Martini) and the plasticity of the figures (derived from Giovanni… Read More
Masaccio
In Masaccio: Early life and works …altarpiece’s images, which include the Madonna and Child originally at its centre, amplify the direct, realistic character of the 1422 triptych. Ensconced in a massive throne inspired by classical architecture, the Madonna is viewed from below and seems to tower over the spectator. The contrast between the bright lighting on… Read More
Michelangelo
In Medici Chapel …group consisting of a “Madonna and Child” and the Medici patron saints Cosmas and Damian. The “Madonna” is a work of imposing majesty, completely by Michelangelo’s own hand; the saints are the work of pupils after models by the master. Read More
In Michelangelo: Early life and works While the statue (Madonna and Child) is blocky and immobile, the painting (Holy Family) and one of the reliefs (Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John) are full of motion; they show arms and legs of figures interweaving in actions that imply movement through time. The forms… Read More
Moore
In Henry Moore: Changes wrought by World War II …a public commission to create Madonna and Child for the church of St. Matthew in Northampton. The possibility of reviving the great tradition of religious art appealed to him, and he tried to give his figures for Northampton what he called “an austerity and a nobility, and some touch of… Read More
Parmigianino
In Madonna with the Long Neck …the exaggerated features of the figures result in a rather strange painting that is, nonetheless, typical of the Mannerist movement. Read More
