Italian Medieval and Renaissance Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

Gallery number

366 artworks on view.

Three pale-skinned men wearing long, dark robes stand in and near a dense cluster of vivid, mint-green buildings with arched openings and clay-red colored roofs that nearly fill this vertical painting. Near the lower center of the composition, two bearded men stand in an open doorway looking out at the younger, cleanshaven man who stands barefoot to our right, facing them. At the door, the man in front has a long, white beard, and he holds a red book, or manuscript, in his left hand while holding up his right hand with his first two fingers raised. The man behind him has a red beard and hair. The younger man to our right bows his head, encircled with a gold halo, toward the pair in the doorway. The younger man holds one hand over his heart, and in the other holds a long, gnarled walking stick. The skin of all three men has a greenish cast. The green buildings are tall and narrow. Beyond the buildings, near the top of the panel, a row of tall, dark green trees are silhouetted against the shiny gold sky. The gold background is punched with a decorative band of small circles and arches along the top edge of the panel.

Saint Anthony Leaving His Monastery

Master of the Osservanza, Sano di Pietro

c. 1430/1435

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1952.5.21

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M3

Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint Bernardino of Siena

Benvenuto di Giovanni

c. 1480/1485

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1942.9.3

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

This painting shows a man from the waist up, standing in the corner of a room. He faces a window on the right that displays an outdoor landscape with green mountains and trees under a blue-and-white sky. The man has a pale complexion, with a large nose, prominent chin, deep-set eyes, and pink lips set in a slight frown. He has reddish-blond shoulder-length hair under a vivid red hat. He is dressed in a dark robe with green floral patterns over a red garment that is visible around his neck. The man's right hand rests on a surface next to him, and he wears two visible rings, one with a blue stone and one with a red stone. The background includes a brick-patterned wall in shades of cream and tan, a blue curtain or tapestry, and wooden ceiling beams.

Portrait of a Man

Tyrolean 15th Century

c. 1490/1500

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.5.71

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M12

This painting depicts an old man sitting on rocky ground, holding a red book in his thin arms and facing the right. He has pale skin, a long white beard, and a balding head, and he is wearing a light blue hooded cloak that envelops his body. A thin golden halo surrounds his head, and his bare feet are visible on the rocky ground. On the left are tall, rocky gray mountains with a large dark cave. A lion-like animal is partially visible at the mouth of the cave, looking out towards us. On the left is an open landscape with a light blue river winding into the distance with sand-colored banks and tall white and blue mountains in the distance under a white and blue, partially cloudy sky.

Saint Jerome Reading

Alvise Vivarini

c. 1476

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.311

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M12

Shown from the waist up, a woman with smooth, pale skin looks out at us from the corners of her wide-set hazel eyes in this vertical painting. Against a nearly black background, her body is angled to our left and wavy, auburn hair cascades down her back. Her hair is arranged into a bow shape over a thin, pale pink ribbon, and delicate tendrils frame her face and fall over her shoulders. She has thin brows, and her long, straight nose is wide at the bridge. Her pale, coral-pink lips are closed in a slight smile. She is lit from our left so shadows engulf the corners of her eyes and lips, and her far cheek, to our right, is shaded. Her moss-green gown has a golden-brown panel across the chest and voluminous, puffy sleeves. The green sleeves fall back over the deep folds of the white garment she wears underneath, and the dress is tied with a pink sash just below her bust. She holds the flaring foot of an oyster-white lidded vessel, like a miniature urn, with one hand and tips the conical lid up with the other.

The Magdalen

Bernardino Luini

c. 1525

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.56

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M18

Candlestick

French 16th Century

c. 1547/1559

Lead-glazed fine earthenware Accession ID 1942.9.352

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M25

This painting shows a woman sitting and cradling an infant on her lap. The woman faces slightly left and looks down at the child with a slight smile. She has pale skin and golden hair covered by a semi-translucent white veil. She wears a red garment with gold embroidery and a dark blue cloak with gold trim and a star-shaped brooch on her shoulder. The infant has curly golden hair and is dressed in a sheer garment, looking up towards the woman. Surrounding these two people are more people with wings and cherubic children with the bodies of red-and-gold birds. All of these people have pale skin and golden hair, and they wear colorful robes in shades of red, white, and light blue. Everyone in the painting has a golden halo around their head, and the background is a decorative golden surface with intricate patterns around the edge of the painting.

Madonna and Child with Angels and Cherubim

Matteo di Giovanni

c. 1460/1465

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1937.1.9

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

A thin, haggard, olive-skinned, nearly nude man is nailed to a wooden cross in this vertical painting. His body is stretched and elongated between wide-spread hands. Blood trickles from where each hand has been nailed to the cross and from a gash over his right ribs, on our left. The blood from the nail in his overlapping feet drips down the shallow platform on which they rest, down the foot of the cross, and onto the ground. His head droops down to our left, eyes closed and shaded under deeply furrowed brows. Blood also seeps from the ring of thorns around his long, coppery-red hair. He has a long, straight nose, a short beard, and his lips are slightly parted. The man wears a sheer white cloth loosely draped low on his hips. The background is streaked with tawny brown, burnt orange, and gold.

Christ on the Cross [reverse]

Andrea di Bartolo

c. 1380/1390

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.20.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M3

Shown from the waist up, a woman behind a stone ledge and in front of a landscape holds a chubby baby tucked into one elbow in this vertical painting. Both have pale skin, flushed cheeks, and blond hair surrounded by gold-edged halos. The woman looks down and to our left with hooded eyes. Her pink lips are closed over a pointed, cleft chin. A translucent white veil brushes across her high forehead and is covered by a marine-blue mantle that drapes over her head and shoulders. The mantle is edged in gold, and the plum-purple lining is visible where it is rolled back over her head and forearms. Her apple-red dress is cinched at the waist and falls in vertical folds. She holds her left hand, to our right, up with the palm facing in and the fingers gesturing toward the child. He half sits in the crook of her other elbow and rests his feet on a white pillow, which is on the gray stone ledge. The child wears a translucent white, long-sleeved garment under a pine-green tunic, and a butter-yellow cloth is wrapped around his hips. A purple banner hanging behind the woman is about the width of her collarbone, and a deep landscape to each side has trees, cliffs, and walking paths leading into the distance under piles of white clouds drifting across a watery blue sky.

Madonna and Child

Bartolomeo Vivarini

c. 1475

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1939.1.118

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M13

Apollo and Marsyas

Sienese 16th Century, Bartolomeo di David

c. 1540

Oil on panel Accession ID 1939.1.350

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M19

A woman wearing a crimson-red brocade dress and gold jewelry fills most of this vertical portrait, but her right hand, on our left, rests on the shoulder of a young boy tucked into the lower left corner of the panel. The woman and boy both have pale, white skin, and both face and look out at us against an emerald-green curtain that falls behind them. The woman has brown eyes, a straight nose, full pink lips, smooth cheeks, and a long neck. Her brown hair is pulled back under a turban densely embroidered with gold. The woman’s dress has puffed shoulders and decorative slashes on the sleeves. One gold chain rests on her throat and the other falls over her chest. She wears long gold earrings, a gold belt, and two gold rings. She holds a brown leather glove in her left hand. The boy’s face is even with the woman’s waist, and he raises his left hand to hold hers, which is draped over his shoulder. He has curly blond hair and dark eyes, and he wears black with a ruffled white shirt just visible at his collar.

A Young Woman and Her Little Boy

Agnolo Bronzino

c. 1540

Oil on panel Accession ID 1942.9.6

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M21

Two women, a man, and two pudgy children create a close-knit group against a dark brown background in this vertical painting. The people all have pale skin with rosy cheeks, blond or copper-colored hair, and delicate gold rings as halos. One child, Jesus, sits on a stone surface at the center of the composition. He leans onto one hip so his feet rest off to our left. His right arm reaches across his chest as he holds up the first two fingers of that hand. He turns his head back to our left to look up at Mary, who stands behind him to our left as she bends down close to the child. She tips her head to our left, and she looks down and off in that direction with brown eyes. A spring-green cloth loops around a white headdress and drapes around her neck. She wears a teal-blue robe over a cranberry-pink dress. In front of her and to our left, Saint Anne, leans toward Jesus from next to the stone. Saint Anne’s skin is notably pale, and wrinkles line her eyes and lips, which are parted. Her face tips up as she gazes heavenward with deep-set eyes. A white cloth drapes over her head and around her shoulders over a lilac-purple garment. She holds a broken staff like walking stick with the hand we see in the lower left corner of the painting. In the lower right and in front of the stone, the second child, Saint John the Baptist, looks at us with wide-set, serious eyes as he points up to Jesus. Saint John has brown curls and pudgy cheeks. A fawn-brown cloth drapes over his far shoulder. Finally, a young man with a wispy beard stands back-to-back with Mary so he fills the upper right corner of the composition. He turns his head to look down over his right shoulder. A gray-blue cloth wraps around his head, and he also holds a broken staff.

The Holy Family

Agnolo Bronzino

c. 1527/1528

Oil on panel Accession ID 1939.1.387

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M21