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Carlo Crivelli (artist) Italian, c. 1430/1435 - 1495 Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor, 1470 tempera on panel painted surface: 125.3 x 50.7 cm (49 5/16 x 19 15/16 in.) Overall (including unpainted margins): 129.5 x 54.4 cm (51 x 21 7/16 in.) framed: 185.4 x 91.8 x 7.9 cm (73 x 36 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection 1952.5.6 On View |
"Remember me, O Mother of God. O Queen of Heaven, rejoice." These words, taken from an Easter psalm sung in the Virgin's honor, appear on the golden arch at the top of Carlo Crivelli's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor. The donor, the Albanian ecclesiastic Prenta di Giorgio, kneels in prayer near the Virgin's crown.
Crivelli's painting originally constituted the central section of a polyptych in the parish church at Porto San Giorgio, near Fermi. The crisp, sculptural forms reflect Crivelli's probable training in the humanist center of Padua. Yet the manner in which Crivelli's figures are modeled in light and shade also expresses a broader Renaissance concern with direct observation of nature.
Crivelli's very personal, almost metallic style must in large part be explained by the events of his life. He was born in Venice where the Gothic tradition lingered well into the fifteenth century. After spending some time in Padua, he settled in the Marches on the Adriatic, and there remained relatively unaffected by new trends.