Madonna and Child with Donors
Cecco di Pietro, Madonna and Child with Donors, 1386, tempera on wood, Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, public domain, 61.44
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Madonna and Child with Donors
- Artist
- Date
1386
- Period
Late Medieval (ca. 1250-ca. 1500)
- Medium
tempera on wood
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
48 3/4 in x 21 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
inscription: Cecchus Petri de Pisis Mepisit AD MCCCLXXXVI, painted in media, along bottom of painting frame Translation: Cecchus Petro of Pisa [mepisit] 1386 Language: medieval Latin Description: artist inscription
- Collection Area
European Art
- Category
Paintings
- Object Type
painting
- Culture
Italian
- Credit Line
Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation
- Accession Number
61.44
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
- Place Made
Created in: Pisa
This symbolic and richly ornamented panel reflects the continuation of Italo-Byzantine conventions in the early Renaissance. The repetition of color creates a pattern which is enhanced by the elaborately tooled gold haloes and borders. In the panel, Jesus holds a goldfinch, a symbol of his future sacrifice, and wears a coral amulet as protection against evil.
Two donors, one a Knight of Malta, and the other possibly a high-ranking official, kneel in the lower corners. These early examples of portraiture illustrate the increasing importance of the individual during the Renaissance. However, their placement at the periphery and tiny scale serve to confirm the difference in status between the human and the divine that persisted in the fourteenth-century collective conscience.
