Nicola da Guardiagrele, Madonna of Humility and Angels

Description

The iconographic subject represented is the Madonna of humility, dear to the mendicant orders. The Virgin appears seated on the ground on a cushion, with the baby Jesus in her lap. The representation of the mother and son crouching contrasts with the typical pose assumed by the Majesties seated on the throne. The role of the church is symbolized by the figure of the Madonna, who shows herself humble in her gestures, although not in her ornaments, showing a certain affinity with the sensitivity of the new monastic orders and the emerging city classes in which the work finds an ideal recipient: the nascent merchant bourgeoisie.