Lot 35: JACOBELLO DEL FIORE VENICE ACTIVE 1370-1439

MADONNA AND CHILD

MADONNA AND CHILD

measurements note
34 3/4 by 24 1/4 in.; 88.2 by 61.5cm

gold ground, tempera on panel, within an engaged frame

NOTE

Jacobello del Fiore was one of the leading painters in the Veneto during the first third of 15^th century. His early style harks back to Byzantine art and depictions of the Madonna. However, later in his career Jacobello integrated ideas and techniques from contemporaries such as Gentile da Fabriano.

Jacobello, known for images of Madonnas, such as this Madonna of Humility, has imbued the composition with a sense of softness and tenderness rarely seen in Byzantine iconography. The formal eastern iconography of this subject, depicting the Madonna facing the viewer, holding a stiffly posed and fully clothed child, has been slightly modified by Jacobello. Here, the Madonna, seated on a grassy patch, is slightly turned towards the child with her head inclined to the right. The child, while still fully clothed, reaches out to his mother in a somewhat playful gesture. This more intimate portrayal is also apparent in another work by Jacobello, formerly in the Berenson collection, Florence (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, vol. I, New York 1957, fig. 38).