Artwork
Madonna with Child
Madonna with Child is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Giampietrino. It dates from 1520 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum. Created in 1520, this oil painting portrays a mother and her infant son, set against a muted landscape.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition focuses on the intimate relationship between the mother and child, representing the main subject of the Madonna and Child tradition.
The painting depicts the Madonna and Child, a central theme in religious art featuring the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus Christ. Created by Giampietrino in 1520, the work falls within the genre of religious art. The composition focuses on the intimate relationship between the mother and child, representing the main subject of the Madonna and Child tradition. This subject matter emphasizes the humanity and divinity of Christ through his depiction alongside Mary.
Technique & Style
The work is painted in oil on canvas, a medium associated with the Lombard tradition of the early sixteenth century. Measuring 53.8 cm in height and 39.7 cm in width, the composition is executed on a fabric support typical for devotional panels of the period. Handling shows the soft, sfumato modeling and delicate chiaroscuro favored by Giampietrino, with gentle transitions between light and shadow to render the Virgin’s drapery and the Christ Child’s form.
The palette remains restrained, relying on earthy umbers and muted blues to articulate the sacred figures against a darkened ground, a stylistic choice consistent with High Renaissance devotional imagery in northern Italy.
No specific condition reports are provided in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The painting was created by Giampietrino around 1520, as indicated by both the artist’s record and the work’s stylistic placement within the High Renaissance period in Northern Italy. The canvas depicts the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, a common subject in Giampietrino’s oeuvre, reflecting his association with the Milanese school influenced by Leonardo da Vinci. The work entered the collection of the Hermitage Museum, where it remains housed.
No documented commission or early ownership history prior to its acquisition by the museum has been recorded in the available sources.
Giampietrino's Madonna with Child, an oil painting on canvas dated to 1520, is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Russia. The work depicts the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child within a religious art genre. While the specific inventory or accession number is not provided in the available records, the museum serves as the confirmed location for this piece.
The painting measures 53.8 cm in height and 39.7 cm in width. No specific exhibition history or past display records are documented in the provided sources.
Context
The work is classified as a religious painting within the High Renaissance framework of Italian art, reflecting devotional practices of the early 16th century. Giampietrino's depiction of Mary and the Christ Child aligns with established iconographic traditions while demonstrating compositional approaches characteristic of his workshop activity. The painting's dimensions of 53.8 cm by 39.7 cm and oil on canvas technique were developed during his period of activity in Milan and later Rome.
Its presence in the Hermitage Museum collection since acquisition provides material evidence of 19th century scholarly interest in tracking Giampietrino's oeuvre.
Overview
Created in 1520, this oil painting portrays a mother and her infant son, set against a muted landscape. The woman is dressed in a deep red garment, while the child appears with a pale, smooth complexion. The figures are rendered with gentle, rounded features and serene expressions, standing out against a shadowed background that recedes into distant hills and a solitary tree.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giampietrino, probably Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli (active 1495–1549), was a north Italian painter of the Lombard school and Leonardo's circle, succinctly characterized by S. J. Freedberg as an "exploiter of Leonardo's repertory."
