Madonna Enthroned (from a ten-part altarpiece)
Artist: Lorenzo Monaco (Italian, ca.1375-1423/24)
Date: about 1390-1400
Dimensions:
48 11/16 x 24 in. (123.7 x 61 cm)
Medium: tempera and gold on wood panel
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1976.22
Label Text:Made with expensive materials like gold leaf and blue pigment from powdered lapis lazuli (a semiprecious stone), this image of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ formed the center of a large altarpiece. It was probably painted for a chapel altar in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Altarpieces depicted holy figures or scenes from the Bible that inspired and focused Christian devotion. The inscription at the base of the mostly original frame is from a Latin hymn: “O Heaven’s glorious mistress, enthroned above the starry sky, who provides to thy own Creator…”
Lorenzo, a monk (“Monaco”), was the most sought-after painter in Florence of his day. Such details as the tender relationship between mother and child, the rich color, the transparent gauze of Christ’s shirt, and Mary’s elaborate rose wreath halo explain Lorenzo’s fame.
[image of altarpiece reconstruction]
Reconstruction of probable appearance of original altarpiece. The four panels of standing saints are in the Gallerie Nazionali, Florence, the panels in the lower register (the predella) are in, l. to r.: private collection; The Art Gallery, Leicester; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; and the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Reconstruction courtesy of Donald Garstang, P. & D. Colgnaghi and Co., Ltd., London.
Lorenzo, a monk (“Monaco”), was the most sought-after painter in Florence of his day. Such details as the tender relationship between mother and child, the rich color, the transparent gauze of Christ’s shirt, and Mary’s elaborate rose wreath halo explain Lorenzo’s fame.
[image of altarpiece reconstruction]
Reconstruction of probable appearance of original altarpiece. The four panels of standing saints are in the Gallerie Nazionali, Florence, the panels in the lower register (the predella) are in, l. to r.: private collection; The Art Gallery, Leicester; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; and the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Reconstruction courtesy of Donald Garstang, P. & D. Colgnaghi and Co., Ltd., London.
On view
In Collection(s)