Madonna and Child Enthroned

Place of Originpossibly Umbria, Italy

Dateabout 1275-1285

Dimensions37 1/2 × 15 5/8 × 1 3/4 in. (95.3 × 39.7 × 4.4 cm)

Mediumtempera and gold on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1936.21

Not on View

Label TextFacing straight forward with a stoic, expressionless face, the Madonna (Mary) sits enthroned before a heavenly background of shining gold leaf with the Christ Child seated on her lap. He raises up his right hand in blessing and holds a scroll in his left hand, alluding to Christian prophecy. Mary functions as a seat for Christ, the incarnation of divine wisdom, emphasizing her role as mother. The frontal organization, symmetrical features, and simplified, flattened forms reflect Byzantine icons—images of holy figures that were believed to provide spiritual access to the saint portrayed. In the years following the Fourth Crusade in 1204, in which Latin Christians from western Europe sacked the Orthodox Christian city of Constantinople (now Istanbul), capital of Byzantium, many icons were brought from the Byzantine Empire to Italy through trade between Venice and Constantinople. Icons’ style and arrangement of figures influenced Italian artists at a time when images of the Virgin Mary were becoming more popular in Western Europe.Published ReferencesVan Marle, R., "Some Unknown Tuscan Paintings of the XIIIth Century," Apollo, XXI, Mar. 1935, pp. 126, 127-128, fig. II.

Comstock, H., "Dugento Panel at the Toledo Museum," Connoisseur, XXCVIII, Oct. 1936, pp. 230-231, repr.

Parnassus, VIII, Oct. 1936, p. 20.

Art News, XXXV, Oct. 10, 1936, pp. 18-19, repr.

Art Digest, XI, Oct. 15, 1936, p. 17, repr.

Godwin, Blake-More, European Paintings in the Toledo Museum, 1939, p. 2, repr. p. 3.

Garrison, E. B., Italian Romanesque Panel Painting, Florence 1949, no. 336, repr.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "Medieval Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 7, no. 1, Spring 1964, p. 6, repr.

Fredericksen, B. and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge (MA), 1972, pp. 242, 311.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 83, pl. 2.

Exhibition HistoryBoston, Museum of Fine Arts, Arts of the Middle Ages, 1940, no. 49.