Madonna and Child

It was customary during the Renaissance to hang an image of the Madonna and Child in every room of a home, where they served as the focus for daily prayer and kept a watchful eye over the household. This example, both quiet and gentle, was produced in the circle of the great Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1430-1516) and has recently been attributed to one of that artist's followers, Alessandro Oliverio. One of the most prolific artists of Renaissance Venice, Bellini was especially renowned for his Madonna and Child compositions, which were often repeated by other artists. This painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by one of Bellini’s close assistants, shares its composition with the Walters’ painting and attests to the popularity of this particular design. For a painting by Giovanni Bellini himself at the Walters, see 37.446.

Provenance

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

Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 528, as Flemish School, 15th century]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.