Madonna and Child

Half-length images of the Madonna and Child were popular in the homes of Renaissance Italy where they would be viewed by all members of the family. This example seems especially attuned to an audience including mothers and children in that it shows the Christ Child holding onto his mother’s sash as he attempts take his first steps. The Madonna is also dressed in typical Renaissance clothing, an aspect which would have further integrated the holy figures into a contemporary domestic context. This scene takes place on the ledge of an arched window with an extensive landscape beyond. For a similar example of the Madonna and Child as if seen through a window, see the Walters' Madonna by Filippo Lippi (37.429).

Painted by an anonymous artist known as the “Master of the Liverpool Madonna” (so-named after the location of one of his other paintings of the Madonna and Child, now at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, England), the painting is much damaged. The right hands of both figures are modern reconstructions.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Alfredo Barsanti, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Elia Volpi, Florence [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Elia Volpi Sale, April 25-May 3, 1910, no. 371 [as by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo]; Private collection, Florence, 1910-1911 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Bernard Berenson [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown] [through Berenson]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.