Madonna and Child
Giovanni Bellini
Italian, ca. 1426–1516

Details
Title
Madonna and Child
Artist/Maker
Giovanni Bellini (Italian, ca. 1426–1516)
Date
ca. 1510
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
37 1/8 x 28 3/4 inches
Credit
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Accession #
58.33
An innovative artist whose influence resonated for generations, Giovanni Bellini was the foremost painter of the early Renaissance in Venice, Italy. Several years before he created this work, Bellini had switched from tempera to oil paint, which allowed him to produce subtle gradations in color, such as those seen here in the fine shadows on the Madonna’s face. The figures appear before a green Cloth of Honor that symbolizes renewal, while the bare tree in the upper right may allude both to the Crucifixion and to the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
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