Italian Medieval and Renaissance Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

Gallery number

367 artworks on view.

A woman is shown from the waist up behind a ledge, on which a baby stands in front of a gold background in this vertical painting. Both people have pale skin, blond hair, light brown eyes, and small, pale pink lips. To the right, the woman’s body is angled slightly to our left, toward the child. Her head tips down so her forehead overlaps the baby’s head. The woman has close-set, almond-shaped eyes under thin brows. Her hair is pulled back and her head encircled with a string of pearls and a red bead or gem, which rests in the middle of her forehead. Her hair is also partially covered by a white veil and a blue cloak patterned with gold leaves, vines, and dots. The lining of the cloak is moss green, and her dusky pink dress is also edged and decorated with gold designs. She holds one long-fingered hand up to the child’s knee and braces his back side with her other hand. The child stands on chubby legs on tiny, sandaled feet. He leans close to the woman and looks off to our right with hooded, wide-set eyes. His lips are downturned, and he has chubby cheeks and a knobby chin. He wears a strand of red beads and a moss-green tunic over translucent white cloth. He stands on a red cloth draped over the center of the white ledge. A piece of a small, round red fruit with a long stem sits on the ledge to the right. The space behind the people’s shoulders is painted muted mauve pink with gray streaks. The woman and child both have halos punched into the gold background above. A branch with two pears is in the top left corner and another branch, perhaps holding an apple, is in the top right. The panel is framed by a raised lip, also painted gold.

Madonna and Child

Carlo Crivelli

c. 1490

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.264

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M13

A winged angel strides toward a young woman who kneels at the foot of a bed, while an older, bearded man, surrounded by several winged babies and a dove, hover overhead in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin. To our left, the blond angel steps forward on his right, sandaled foot. He holds a long stem with a white lily in his left hand, farther from us, and raises his other hand to the sky. His charcoal-gray wings are partly extended, and he wears long, flowing, goldenrod-yellow and sage-green garments with a green and blue striped sash wrapped around his chest. His lips are parted, and he looks toward the woman to our right. The woman, Mary, kneels at a wooden lectern that holds an open book near the foot of the bed. Pillows and a moss-green bed curtain are visible behind her. A cobalt-blue mantle drapes across her shoulders and wraps around her rust-red gown and caramel-brown shawl. Mary’s brown hair is partially covered by a golden brown cloth, and her dark eyes are lowered, looking down to our left. Her body is angled to our right, hands crossed over her chest, but her shoulders and head have begun to turn to look back at the angel. Almost lost in shadow, a translucent glass vase with a single stem of rose-red buds sits on the ground next to her. The floor is covered with geometric patterns in tones of brown, gray, and black. A balustrade under arched openings encloses the room beyond the bed. At the foot of one column, a striped cat laps from a saucer. Floating above the pair the bearded man looks down toward Mary, his hands and arms extended in front of him. He also wears a cobalt-blue robe over rose-pink sleeves. Two winged, nude babies cling to his outstretched arms, and also look down at Mary. A trio of three blond baby heads float around the white dove, which flies in a starburst of light. Midnight-blue wings frame each baby’s head. The entire group is surrounded by puffy, golden clouds. The landscape beyond the balustrade has lush green trees under a sapphire-blue sky sprinkled with clouds.

The Annunciation

Veronese, Italian 16th Century

c. 1583/1584

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1959.9.6

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M24

This nearly square painting is visually divided into three vertical zones, with a pergola-like structure occupied by two people at the center taking up the most space, and narrower scenes with more people to either side. All the people have light, peachy skin tinged in some areas with pale green. The central structure has a shallow roof and several types of arched openings—some rounded and some pointed, all of different sizes. A winged angel to the left under the structure has curly blond hair and wears a shell-pink, floor-length robe. A seated woman to our right wears a lapis-blue dress and a white head covering. She sits with her forearms crossed over her chest, her hands in front of her shoulders. Both have plate-like, gold halos. Two arched openings at the back of the structure lead into rooms beyond. In the left quarter of the painting, a nude man and woman are pushed through an arched gateway by a winged angel with a gold halo. A bearded, haloed man looks down from a gold cloud above. Forest-green trees line the garden at the back and flowers and rabbits fill the space around the people’s feet. To our right, a balding, bearded man warms his hands at a fire in a room beyond the central structure. He wears rose pink and has a gold halo.

The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise

Giovanni di Paolo

c. 1435

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.223

Not on view

In this horizontal painting, a crowd of more than two dozen men and women gathered shoulder to shoulder at the foot of three men hanging from wooden crosses nearly fill the scene. All the people have pale or ruddy skin. To our left of center, each of the crucified men is tied and nailed to a cross. Blood pours from their hands and feet, and from a gash over the central man’s right ribs. The men’s heads slump and their bodies sag. They are nude except for a red cloth across the central man’s hips and a small white loincloth on the man to our right. Two of the men wear crowns of thorns. The spear piercing the central man’s side is held by a man riding a white horse in the crowd below. At least three additional men in the crowd are on horseback. Many of the men are armed with spears, creating a bristle of vertical and diagonal lines over the group. The men and women wear robes and uniforms in shades of golden yellow, pine green, crimson and rust red, black, and cream white. A few men wear metal helmets, and one wears armor. Near the lower left corner, a woman wearing a navy-blue robe has fainted and is supported by two kneeling women while another woman and cleanshaven man look on, their fingers interlaced and held low. The smooth ground is grass green. A spindly tree with dark green leaves grows up the right side of the composition. Off in the distance beyond the tree, two buildings hint at a city. Blue clouds billow in the blue sky above.

The Crucifixion

Luca Signorelli

c. 1504/1505

Tempera, oil, and gilding on panel Accession ID 1952.5.75

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M7

Shown from the thighs up, a woman holding a baby is surrounded by a man, woman, and two winged angels in this vertical painting. Mary, the central woman, the baby, Jesus, and the other woman, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, have pale, peach-toned skin. The man, Saint Jerome, and two angels have slightly darker peach-colored skin with faint gray shading. They all have gold halos, wide-set, hooded, light brown eyes, long, straight noses, delicate mouths, and pointed chins where we can see. Mary sits with her knees angled to our right, and she looks down at the baby held sitting upright near that shoulder. The crown of her head is covered by a white veil down to her forehead. A lapis-blue cloak drapes over the back of her head, her shoulders, and across her lap. There is a gold starburst on the right shoulder, to our left, and the cloak is edged in gold. The dress she wears is patterned ruby red on garnet red and decorated with shimmering, bright gold designs. She supports Jesus’s bottom with her left hand, to our right, and braces his chest with her other hand. He has small features with chubby cheeks, a high hairline with blond hair, and a chubby body. He grips the neckline of her dress with his right hand, to our left, and touches the hand that holds his chest with the other. He is nude except for a translucent white cloth around his chest and hips. To our left, Saint Jerome looks down at and writes in a book with a dark green cover using a feather quill. He is balding and has a long white beard. His forehead is lined, his cheeks hollow, and his lips parted. He wears a red robe over a white garment with a white collar. To our right, Saint Catherine looks at Jesus and holds a blue-covered book and black quill pen in one hand and a fragment of a wooden wheel lined with spikes with the other. Her blond hair is wrapped with and around a white cloth, and she wears a white-on-white patterned dress under a silver-gray cloak. One angel looks on from between Mary and the other looks up and to our right from behind Jesus. Both have their lips parted. The one to our right wears a pale pink garment and holds up one hand. The background is shiny, bright gold punched along the top and upper corners with a geometric design.

Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Angels

Matteo di Giovanni

c. 1465/1470

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1939.1.297

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

A woman cradling a baby boy sits on an arched throne, which is surrounded by twenty men, women, and winged angels against a glimmering gold background in this vertical painting. The panel on which it is painted comes to a pointed arch at the top, and a gold, carved, twisting column frames the scene to each side. Most the people have pale skin faintly tinged with green and all have bright gold, plate-like halos. The woman, Mary, wears a forest-green, gold-edged robe covering her head, shoulders, and body over a peach-colored dress, which is decorated with gold, geometric designs. She has wavy, strawberry-blond hair, a straight nose, wide, narrowed eyes, and her pink lips are closed. Her body faces us but she looks down and to our right, toward a pair of women on that side of the throne. The baby looks in the same direction, and has short, blond, curly hair, pudgy cheeks, a wide, bare chest, and scrawny arms. The fabric wrapped around his waist and legs shimmers from canary yellow to sky blue, and is crimson red on the underside. He reaches one arm across his body to our right, toward a small gray bird held by one of two women standing next to the throne. Those women and the others around the throne are smaller in scale than Mary. Their bodies face the throne, and most look up toward it. They all wear gold-trimmed robes in ultramarine blue, ruby red, emerald green, pale pink, fawn brown, ivory white, or golden yellow. Each person holds one object, including a palm frond, flute, ring, ointment jar, wooden cross, sword, lamb, or a book. One man, to our lower left, wears a furry garment under his robe and holds a red cross and a scroll. Another man, to our right, holds a book and a large, gold skeleton key. Even smaller in scale, two winged angels play instruments in the lower center, at the base of the throne. Finally, to each side of the throne, over the saints surrounding it, there are two pairs of two angels. In each of that final pair of angels, one is painted entirely in cobalt blue and the other entirely in scarlet red. Crimson-red fabric embellished with gold, stylized leaf patterns hangs behind Mary, on the throne.

Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels

Bernardo Daddi

c. 1345

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1952.5.61

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1

A balding man with a long gray beard kneels on the edge of a stream, next to a lion, while two young boys stand in a rocky alcove in the landscape background of this vertical painting. The man and boys all have pale skin. The man, Saint Jerome, kneels with his body angled to our right as he looks up with dark eyes. His wispy hair and full beard are streaked with silver and honey gold. The faint gold line of his halo nearly disappears in the background. His nose and high cheekbones are flushed, his mouth slightly open. His long-sleeved ivory-white robe puddles under his knees. The robe is open to create a deep V that reaches to the forest-green sash tied around his waist. He holds a rock in his right hand, to our left, by his side, and holds the palm of his other hand up. The lion lies with its head lifted, looking at or toward us, on the far side of Saint Jerome. The silvery water of the river curves around gray boulders in the lower right corner of the painting and winds into the distance. The riverbank is covered in olive-green grass with some small white flowers. Behind Saint Jerome, the land rises to a cave-like outcropping. The two boys stand facing each other in the shadowy entrance. Both have blond hair, faint gold halos, and are barefoot. They wear gold-colored tunics, and each touches the chest of the other. The boy to our left wears a wine-red cloak and holds a long staff topped with a small cross. The other boy wears a white cloak. Plants and trees grow over the rocks above. The river curves through a flat field lined with trees, leading back to a town with towers and spires painted in tones of sky blue. Pale blue mountains rise along the water’s edge beyond the town. The sky deepens from light yellow along the horizon to icy blue above, where a few puffy clouds float along the top edge of the composition.

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Anonymous Artist

c. 1490/1500

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1939.1.280

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M20

The Annunciation

Giannicola di Paolo

1510/1515

Oil on panel Accession ID 1939.1.155

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M20

A winged angel, a woman, and a baby are gathered on a terrace that overlooks a softly lit landscape in this vertical painting. The people all have parchment-white skin tinged faintly with green, delicate gold halos, and they are close to us. The baby is round and plump, and faces us as he lies on his side on a carpet of pine-green grass dotted with small white and pink flowers. A band of caramel brown spans the lower edge of the painting. Propped up on one elbow, the baby turns his blond head to look at the woman kneeling beside him to our right. The woman, Mary, towers over the baby with her body angled slightly to our left. A midnight-blue cloak trimmed in gold is wrapped around her coral-red gown. The fingertips of her raised hands lightly touch as she bows her head and lowers her brown eyes to look at the child. A transparent white veil drapes over her blond hair. To our left, the angel also kneels and looks down at the baby with arms crossed over the chest. The angel has curly, copper-red hair and wears a carnation-pink robe over a transparent chemise. Semi-transparent, bronze-colored wings nearly disappear into the background. Just beyond the trio, a low balustrade with an opening near Mary encloses the space. A colonnade with arched openings extends into the distance to our left, behind the angel. A flat, olive-green wall rises the height of the painting behind Mary. Between them, the landscape is carpeted with moss and celery-green grass, and dotted with trees. A river winds toward slate-gray hills in the deep distance.

The Adoration of the Child

Filippino Lippi

c. 1475/1480

Oil on poplar panel Accession ID 1937.1.18

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M7

Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist

Cima da Conegliano

c. 1492/1495

Oil on poplar panel Accession ID 1937.1.33

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M10

Shown from the chest up behind a stone ledge, a light-skinned man with a mustache, beard, and shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a black garment with voluminous sleeves, tilts his head back to look at us from the corners of his eyes in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left but he tips his head back to look past his rounded nose at us with dark eyes from under arched brows. His right fist, on our left, rests on a closed book bound in moss green, which is fastened with a metal clasp. The book rests on the ivory-white stone ledge, which steps up to a higher level to our right. He clenches a wad of nickel-gray cloth in the hand on the book, and his other arm rests by his side, extending out of view behind the ledge. His black, long-sleeved jacket has full sleeves and is open at the neck over a collarless white shirt. A squared opening is cut into the elephant-gray stone wall behind him to our left. A cityscape beneath a pale blue sky is visible in the distance out the window. The Roman characters “VVO” appear to be carved into the front face of the ledge, at the bottom edge of the canvas.

Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman

Cariani

c. 1510/1515

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1939.1.258

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M10

A young woman, holding a baby in her lap, sits on a wide bench draped with a patterned midnight-blue fabric in this vertical panel painting. The panel is rectangular at the bottom and becomes a pointed arch at the top. The woman and baby both have pale skin tinged with peach, and halos inscribed on a gleaming gold background. The woman’s body is angled to our right and she tilts her head in that direction to look down at the child. She has a slender, oval face, with hazel-brown eyes under thin brows, a long nose, and coral-pink lips. A sliver of blond hair peeks out from the honey-gold cowl that covers her head, neck, and shoulders. The cowl is layered over her gold-trimmed, burgundy-red robe, which has an opening through which her right arm, closer to us, reaches to support to the child. That arm is covered by a long, gold sleeve patterned with scalloped brick-red and marine-blue designs and smoke-gray flowers. The word “MATER” is inscribed on her neckline and “AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOM TECV BEN” along the bottom hem. On the woman’s lap, the child is angled to our left with the woman’s slender hands wrapped around his torso. His mouth is slightly open as he tilts his head up to look at her. His right hand, on our left, reaches up to gesture at her neckline. He has wavy, blond hair and hazel eyes under faint brows, a small nose, and peach-colored lips set in a round face. He wears an ankle-length, cobalt-blue tunic trimmed with bright gold. The fabric on the bench is covered with cobalt-blue and crimson-red flowers, and pools around the seat and across the floor.

Madonna and Child Enthroned

Gentile da Fabriano

c. 1420

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1939.1.255

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M3