"Madonna and Child" by Leonardo da Vinci

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Mom and a newborn baby is one of the most popular subjects in art.

He was given special attention by both popular and well-known artists (Leonardo da Vinci and Rafael Santi) and those little known to the general public (Bartolomeo Murillo, di Marcovaldo and others).

Virgin Mary di Marcovaldo

Coppo di Marcovaldo is considered the founder of the Sienese school of fine arts. His fate is quite interesting, because in the middle of the XIII century. he participated in one of the battles on the side of the Florentine adherents of the Pope, as a result of which the artist was captured. But since he was very talented, he was able to "buy" his freedom by painting a very beautiful and quite realistic image of the Madonna and Child, which was then transferred to the Siena Church. This Madonna was called "Madonna del Bordone".

This picture presents the viewer with the Virgin Mary seated on a throne, with one leg slightly raised to make the baby more comfortable to sit in her arms. She touchingly holds his leg, and he reaches out to her hand. They already have some kind of noticeable interaction, which was not observed in earlierpictures.

The head of the Virgin is surrounded by a barely visible halo. It is worth noting the incredibly expressive eyes of this Madonna. She looks at the viewer, as if looking into his soul. Her clothes are a simple black cape, but for greater chic, the artist painted the draperies in gold. On the sides, left and right, are angels depicted in full growth (this is the tradition of Florence). Usually they were drawn the same, but these, if you look closely, are not completely identical to each other: the differences are in their faces.

From the lesser known, let's move on to the more popular and take a closer look at the brightest paintings on this topic.

"Madonna Litta" by Leonardo da Vinci

One of the most famous paintings depicting the Madonna and Child is the painting "Madonna Litta" by the brightest Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Now it can be seen among the masterpieces kept in the Hermitage.

The main face on this canvas is a young woman who holds a baby in her arms and breastfeeds him. As with all Renaissance paintings, it stands out with brighter colors compared to the background, where the viewer can observe arched windows through which one can see a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. It is worth noting that the Madonna and Child are drawn very clearly, her features seem to be highlighted, as if drawn under a camera flash, compared to a somewhat smeared background - these are also the distinguishing features of portraits of that era.

Mom tenderly looks at the child. Someit seems that she is smiling slightly (the "smile of Leonardo" popular for the artist's paintings), in fact, the Madonna is thoughtful. The child looks at the viewer, holding a bird in one of the handles - a small goldfinch.

Goldfinch in the painting "Madonna Litta"

There are different versions of why the chick is shown in this picture.

- The bird as a symbol of the future suffering of Christ, where the red head of the carduelis denotes the blood shed by the Son of God. According to legend, when Christ was being led to Golgotha, a goldfinch fell on him, pulled a thorn out of Jesus' eyebrow, and blood dripped on him.

- Goldfinch, symbolizing the soul, which flies away after death: this designation comes from ancient paganism, but is also preserved in Christian semiotics.

- The apocryphal gospel of Thomas tells a slightly different story: Jesus revived a dead goldfinch by simply picking it up, which is why many paintings depict this chick along with the baby.

Madonnas by Raphael Santi

But there is another, no less famous Madonna and Child. Raphael Santi was the one who wrote it. Or rather, he has a lot of paintings with such a plot: this is the well-known "Sistine Madonna", and the "Madonna Conestabile" stored in the Hermitage, and the extraordinary "Madonna with a Veil", which depicts not only a mother and child, but everything Holy Family.

Directly the picture with the name "Madonna and Child" Raphael painted in 1503. The woman on it is more refined and,undoubtedly younger than da Vinci's. Obviously, the bond between mother and child is more pronounced. They look at each other with touching love and light thoughtfulness, the mother supports the baby by the back with her hand. This is no longer the disturbing Virgo that can be seen in the early paintings of the artist.

Together they read the Book of Hours - a symbol of the authority of the church - which contains the texts of prayers, psalms, church services (earlier, by the way, it was from this book that they learned to read). According to some reports, the Book of Hours is open on the page that corresponds to nine o'clock, and this is the time when Jesus was crucified on the cross.

A smoky landscape with a church and trees is drawn against the background. By the way, this landscape can also be called a distinctive characteristic of Santi's works on the theme of mother and child. Almost every painting by Raphael has a fairly detailed landscape background.

It makes no sense to determine whose picture is better: da Vinci or Raphael. Madonna and Child each of them looks original and unique.

It was not only the visual arts that were interested in the theme of mother and child, so it is worth considering how it was reflected in other types.

Madonna and Child in sculpture

The attention of any connoisseur of art is attracted by the sculpture "Madonna and Child", authored by the famous master Michelangelo.

This masterpiece, as conceived by the customers, was supposed to be at a height of about nine meters, so the audiencewould look at him from the bottom up, as a deity. By the way, this is the reason why mother and child look down.

There is evidence that Cardinal Piccolomini (the first customer) was dissatisfied with the sketches, primarily because Jesus was naked, so their contract with Michelangelo was broken. And the sculpture, of course, found its owner. They became de Mouscron - a merchant from the city of Bruges. He then handed it over to the Church of Our Lady, where it was placed in a dark niche that contrasted beautifully with the marble-white color of the sculpture itself.

Currently, in order to protect the work of art, the city authorities have placed it behind bulletproof glass.

Michelangelo's Madonna Doni

Besides being an excellent sculptor, Michelangelo was also a wonderful painter. Although he did not consider it some kind of achievement and was not at all proud of his talent.

The images drawn by him amaze the viewer with incredible plasticity, it seems that even when drawing he "sculpts" the figures, endowing them with volume. In addition, the painting depicts the entire Holy Family, which was rare for paintings of this kind. Of course, in the full sense of the word, Michelangelo is a sculptor, not an artist. "Madonna and Child" however is simply a masterpiece.

So let's summarize. If we talk about the most famous painting depicting the Virgin Mary, then this is Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "Madonna and Child". If a person is interested in other typesart, the most striking and memorable, of course, is the work of Michelangelo.