Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1
Lesson 3: Devotion- Rossellino, Madonna and Child with Angels
- Pensive Bodhisattva
- Curtain of the Tabernacle
- Berlinghiero, Madonna and Child
- Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere
- Rembrandt, The Last Supper, after Leonardo da Vinci
- Bassano’s The Baptism of Christ
- Relief of the Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus
- Cult Image of the God Ptah
- Plaque with Censing Angels
- Mahakala, Protector of the Tent
- Blake, The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
Berlinghiero, Madonna and Child
Met curator Keith Christiansen on timelessness in Berlinghiero’s Madonna and Child.
Of exceptional beauty and importance, this painting may date to the 1230s and is one of only two works that can be confidently assigned to Berlinghiero, the leading painter in Lucca. It follows the Byzantine type known as the Hodegetria ("She who shows the way"), familiar from icons that arrived in Italy following the fall of Constantinople in 1204. The Madonna points to Jesus as the way to salvation; dressed like an ancient philosopher, he holds a scroll. One scholar has noted: "Berlinghiero’s work operates with nuances . . . These nuances include the proportions of the figures, the interplay of their bodies and halos, and the language of gestures, with their gentle flow and their subtle meaning on both human and theological levels."
View this work on metmuseum.org.
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- At0:25, right at the opening the speaker says "...unlike video, unlike the images that we have become so used to seeing all around us...her (the madonna) expression is forever these furrowed brows (and so on)..."
Presumably the speaker is referring to photographs and more specifically video when he mentions "...these images all around us...", I wonder though if in fact those images are as "...unlike..." one another as he implies? The speaker goes on to mention how we experience a painting differently from one viewing session to the next and I would argue that a similar experience can be had with both photographs and video...not to belittle painting.(5 votes) - Why does the baby looks like an adult? Is there a meaning to that?(2 votes)
- Because he is supposed to be representing baby Jesus as a philosopher- notice he is holding a scroll.(3 votes)
- Is it true that painting is the most expensive piece in the Met?(3 votes)
- Not quite. You're probably confusing it for Duccio's Madonna and Child, which cost an incredible $45 million. (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Ducciomadonna.jpg)
Learn more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/arts/design/the-met-unveils-a-masterpiece-its-most-expensive-work-of-art.html?_r=0(1 vote)
- I'm using this video as a source for a paper about Berlinghiero. I was wondering if anyone knows when this was published so I can properly write my bibliography.(2 votes)