Virgin and Child over Saints
painter
Simone Martini
(Siena, about 1284 - 1344, Avignon)
Dateabout 1325
Place MadeSiena, Tuscany, Italy, Europe
MediumTempera and tooled gold on panel
Dimensions33.4 x 25.4 x 4.4 cm (13 1/8 x 10 x 1 3/4 in.) with engaged frame
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberP30w8
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentarySet back to back against the Giotto, and in front of another chair, is Simone Martini's Virgin and Child, from about 1325. Like the work by Giotto, it shows the bond shared by the child and his doting mother, who leans over to him, in a tacit acknowledgement of his divine status. A small band of saintly figures appears in the lower register of the panel; on the far right side of this band is the diminutive figure of a female donor, clad in a nun's black habit. She is kneeling in prayer, asking viewers to remember her in prayer; at the same time, she is demonstrating her position as the person responsible for commissioning this painting. By placing her own portrait so close to this one, and in a corner of the room full of other divine figures, was Gardner somehow imitating the medieval donor, encouraging us to remember her admiringly and to keep her in our prayers?
Id730253
Last Updated11/13/24
EmbARK ObjectID12899
Source ID1948
Andrea Mantegna
about 1497-1500
Object/Provenance
