Better known for grand, monumental compositions and illusionistic decorations, here Lanfranco painted on a smaller scale, successfully portraying an intimate moment between the Madonna, her son, and her nephew. While the Madonna tenderly caresses her son, the two children extend their arms toward each other, expressing both familial and divine...
This work was the left side of a diptych that probably depicted the Crucifixion on the opposite panel. At the lower left, looking up at a looming vision of the Virgin and Child, is a small, kneeling figure in rapt devotion. Lippo Memmi (Sienese, active 1317/1347) has given us...
Giotto's explorations and innovations in art during the early 14th century developed, a full century later, into the Italian Renaissance. Besides making panel paintings, he executed many fresco cycles—the most famous at the Arena Chapel, Padua—and he also worked as an architect and sculptor. Transformed by...
Standing on either side of this Nativity are two Hebrew prophets, whose writings—quoted on the scrolls they hold—are thought by Christians to foretell Jesus’s birth. The Gallery's Nativity joined other scenes from Jesus’s childhood (and other prophets) that unfolded along the front horizontal base...
The Sienese artist who made this panel is named for the town—Città di Castello— where another of his paintings, bearing another image of the Virgin and Child in “majesty” (maestà in Italian), remains today. The Maestà--especially in this tall format--was frequently commissioned for the meeting places of lay brotherhoods....
This small painting is less than 10 inches across, and it was surely made for the private devotions of the person who owned it. That the owner was of modest means is suggested not only by the painting’s size but also by the limited use of gilding. The area...
The Madonna of Humility, an extremely popular subject in Flanders, sits on the ground on a cushion, presenting the haloed Christ Child in her arms. A crescent visible below her skirts at the left symbolizes the moon on which the Virgin stands in representations of the Immaculate Conception. The open...
Margaritone d'Arezzo (Italian, active second and third quarter 13th century) was the first artist from Arezzo whose name we know and whose work survives. He was active during the middle decades of the 13th century. About 300 years later, Giorgio Vasari (Florentine, 1511 - 1574), who published biographies...
This painting and the Enthroned Madonna and Child are the oldest paintings on the National Gallery of Art’s walls. They may have been created by the same anonymous artist in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Panels such as these were highly influential in...
Adoration of the Christ Child (Italian: Adorazione del Bambino), is a circa 1619–1621 oil on canvas painting of the Nativity by the Dutch Golden Age artist Gerard Honthorst in the collection of the Uffizi in Florence. The Adoration of the Child shows a moonlit scene with Mary laying the...
Joseph the Carpenter is an oil painting by Georges de La Tour created circa 1642. The painting depicts a young Jesus with Saint Joseph, his earthly father. Joseph drills a piece of wood with an auger. The shape of the auger reflects the shape of the Cross and the geometry...
The Virgin Mary, enthroned as Queen of Heaven, is surrounded by angels, some in attitudes of prayer, others playing musical instruments and singing. Twisting in his mother’s lap, the infant Christ reaches for a lily, a symbol of Mary’s purity, and clutches a goldfinch, an allusion to his...
Three kings pay homage to the Christ Child, who in turn makes a sign of blessing. Jesus Christ, his mother the Virgin Mary, and Mary's husband Joseph have haloes and wear simple garments, while the Magi are dressed in exotic clothing and jewels and bear exquisite gifts. Caspar,...
A free download of a painting of the Madonna and Child with angels all around them.
