Byzantine 13th Century

Anonymous Byzantine 13th Century

Unsigned works of art, especially those which are hundreds of years old, are difficult to assign to a particular artist. Works attributed to “Byzantine 13th Century” are characterized by Byzantine stylistic elements, such as an emphasis on mysticism and decoration rather than on naturalistic representation. The Byzantine Empire dates from the founding of Constantinople in AD 330 to its conquest by the Turks in AD 1453.

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A woman and child sit on an ornate gold, curving throne in front of a shimmering gold background in this vertical painting. Two winged angels in roundels at the upper corners and the woman and child all have peach-colored skin with a gray cast. The woman tips her head toward the child, to our right. She has almond-shaped eyes, a long, straight nose, and her small lips are closed. She looks into the distance over the child’s head. She wears a scarlet-red mantle that covers her head and drapes over her shoulders and body. The azure-blue of her dress beneath is visible at her throat and over one knee. The child sitting on her knee is as tall as a toddler but has adult proportions in his face and body. He holds up his right hand, on our left, and raises the first two fingers. He holds a red scroll in his other hand. He wears a forest-green robe over a salmon-pink garment. The clothing of both the woman and child have geometric gold lines indicating folds in the drapery, and both have gold halos. The child’s halo is marked with three red arms to create a cross above and to the sides of his head. The woman rests her feet on a low stool in front of the opening of the elaborately carved, two-tier throne that nearly encircles the pair. The winged angels in the upper corners have gold halos, brown hair, jeweled, gold garments, and each holds an orb and scepter.
Byzantine 13th Century, Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne, c. 1260/1280, tempera on linden panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.1

Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne

Byzantine 13th Century · c. 1260/1280 · tempera on linden panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.1

A woman sits on a wide, high-backed throne with a child on her lap against a gold background in this vertical painting. Their peachy skin is deeply shadowed with greenish gray. To our left of center, the woman’s body nearly fills the panel as she sits with her shoulders angled slightly to our right. She tilts her head in that direction as she gazes at us from the corners of almond-shaped, hazel eyes under arched brows. She has a slender face with a long nose and a petite coral-red mouth. A marine-blue mantle covers her head and wraps around her body. The mantle has fallen open at the neckline and the right knee to reveal her dark, navy-blue robe underneath. The child sits upright in the crook of her left arm, on our right. Her left hand cradles the child’s bottom while her other hand, to our left, rests delicately on his knee. The child faces our left and tilts his head to look up at the woman while reaching his far hand to her with two raised fingers. A bone-white scroll is clutched in his near hand. He has wavy, chestnut-brown hair and large, dark eyes. He wears a tomato-red robe and thin, black sandals. A spruce-blue sash wraps around the shoulders and waist of the robe. The folds and creases of their garments are suggested by densely spaced gold lines that bend in angular curves around their knees, legs, and arms. In pointed red shoes, the woman rests her feet on a stool just before the wide, ginger-brown throne, which is decorated with inset camel-brown and tan squares and rectangles. The back of the throne alternates between bands of carved decoration and spindles. Teardrop-shaped finials line the back. The woman and child have halos incised into the gold background beyond them. The child’s halo is divided by three, wide, garnet-red rays. Winged angels with gold halos in brick-red circles hover in the upper left and right. The glimmering gold background is worn in some areas and is cracked throughout.
Byzantine 13th Century, Enthroned Madonna and Child, c. 1250/1275, tempera on poplar panel, Gift of Mrs. Otto H. Kahn, 1949.7.1

Enthroned Madonna and Child

Byzantine 13th Century · c. 1250/1275 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1949.7.1