1261 - Italian Master (active in the 15th century)

Italian Master (active in the 15th century) Maria Lactans This panel painting, in an elongated portrait format, depicts Mary as a half- or three-quarter-length figure, nearly life-size. She is dressed in a deep red gown and a precious, delicately painted, cream-colored damask or brocade cloak, with which she also covers her long, wavy hair falling down onto her shoulders. Her head is set against a circular nimbus that allows the blue-gray sky to shine through, within which the name “Maria” is inscribed in capital letters. Mary has tilted her head slightly downward toward her right side. There, with her exquisitely delicate hands, she holds the child—clad only in a thin, semi-transparent shirt—whom she is nursing, and whose reddish-blond head she tenderly cradles with deep affection. The bright, light color scheme, reminiscent of frescoes, together with the use of a softwood panel as the painting’s support, suggests that the work was created in northern Italy. The angular composition in the lower half of the painting—with the unnaturally posed hands and the drapery of the cloak—suggests that the painter sought to combine older stylistic elements, still rooted in the Late Gothic, with newer stylistic trends —as is particularly evident in the landscape background—. Oil (and/or tempera)/softwood, parquetted. 92 cm x 52 cm. Framed. Italian school, 15th century. Oil (and/or tempera) on softwood panel, parquet-grained.