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Giovanni di Marco, called Giovanni dal Ponte
Madonna and Child with Angels, 1410s
Tempera and tooled gold leaf on panel
88.3 cm x 57.8 cm (34 3/4 in. x 22 3/4 in.)
Bequest of Jack G. Taylor, 1991
The iconography and technique of this panel are medieval. Set against a cloth of honor held by angels and wearing a crown, the Virgin appears as Queen of Heaven. This is also implied by her seated position; before it was cut along the bottom edge, the panel may have shown the step of a throne. Christ's erect posture and gesture of benediction signal his theological identity as the New Church, while his finch and strand of coral symbolize the Passion, fate of his human incarnation. The exposed upper corners prove that the panel originally had an attached gilt frame. In a typical arrangement, the painting would have been the central image of a many staged altarpiece, with panels of saints to either side. If the austere composition and bold shapes hark back to early Florentine painting and the work of Giotto, a pronounced stylization and a remote feeling reflect intervening developments in the later fourteenth century. At the same time, the intricate ornamentation, the curvilinear rhythm in the Child's cloth and the Virgin's hem, and even the hint of graduated modeling in their flesh are evident responses to the extreme refinement and incipient realism of International Style painting. The work of a conservative master, in beautiful condition, the painting sums up currents in Florentine painting on the eve of the Renaissance.