Gentile da Fabriano, Madonna and Child (option 2)

Description

The painting shows Mary seated on a simple cubic block, covered only by a drape embroidered with floral motifs, with the Child in her arms, on a gold background. As in the best works of Fabriano, also in this case the gold is filled with engravings of angels, visible only against the light. Unlike the periods of the artist's Venetian phase, prior to the Florentine one, the sumptuous Gothic thrones have given way to a simpler seat. This brings out the monumentality of Mary, dressed in a purple dress with heavy velvet lapels, with openings from which her arms protrude. The golden details of the dress are very well cared for: the lower hem, which makes a ceaseless arabesque in which we can also read "Ave Maria Gratia Plena Dom[inus] Tecu[m] Ben[edicta]", the edges of the openings for the sleeves, the precious fabric that surrounds Mary's arm, the veil that looks like cast gold, the edge of the neckline (in which we read "Mater [Dei]"), the brooch on his chest. The Child also wears a tunic finely decorated with similar motifs. Despite this decorative attention, all in all less than in other works by the artist, the heart of the scene seems to be the psychological relationship between mother and son, who look at each other laconically. Jesus seems almost to open his lips to speak and Mary appears attentive to his movement, holding it with her hands while with his knee bent forward Jesus is about to climb into her lap. In the background, particularly original is the presence, in the background, of a series of tiles in intuitive perspective foreshortening, proof of the influence on the artist of Tuscan spatial culture, which he tried to make his own, in his own way.