Italian Medieval and Renaissance Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

Gallery number

366 artworks on view.

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman in front of a gold background wears a rose-pink cloak over a sky-blue dress and holds up a tooth in a pair of pincers in this vertical painting. Her body faces us but she looks slightly off to our left with pale brown eyes under faint, arched brows. She has a long nose and her thin, coral-pink lips are closed. Her wavy, auburn-brown hair falls closely around her neck. Her light blue dress has narrow, V-shaped neckline and the high waistline is gathered under a white belt or sash to create the impression of vertical pleats. Her deep pink cloak is fastened with a cord at the neck. It falls over her shoulders and arms, and she holds up the opposite hem with her left hand, on our right. In her right hand, on our left, she holds up a pair of iron-colored pincers holding a small, white object, a tooth. The surface of the painting is noticeably cracked, especially in the shiny gold background behind the person.

Saint Apollonia

Piero della Francesca

c. 1455/1460

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1952.5.19

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M4

The Triumph of Camillus

Biagio d'Antonio, Italian 15th Century

c. 1470/1475

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.153

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M7

A man draped in a white cloth steps toward us onto a ledge as he holds a red staff with a white banner in one hand and holds up the other hand to show a wound on the palm in this vertical painting. His pale face has a yellow cast but he has rosy cheeks, and his body is eggshell white. Near the upper left corner of the painting, his raised right hand, to our left, is held palm out to show it has been pierced. The cardinal-red staff he supports in his other hand has a long, fluttering banner with a red cross against a white background. He bends his right knee deeply, so his bare foot rests on a low wall or side of a casket in front of him. He looks up with brown eyes under curved eyebrows. He has a straight nose, and his small, rose-pink mouth is closed. He has shoulder-length, brown curly hair and a forked beard. His voluminous ivory-white cloth drapes over one shoulder and hangs in deep folds across the arm holding the banner and the opposite knee. He has a bloody gash over his right ribs. His entire body is surrounded by radiating lines encompassed in a glowing, golden halo. The corners around the halo are celestial blue. The ledge where he props his foot is painted to look like yellow marble veined with gray, framed with fawn-brown molding along the top edge. A round, black medallion flecked with celery green at the front center of the panel is also surrounded with with brown molding.

Christ Risen from the Tomb

Bergognone

c. 1490

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.5.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M18

Painted entirely with tones of white and gray, a pudgy, winged baby-like putto, Cupid, holds onto a wheel in this vertical canvas. Cupid’s body is angled to our left, where he hunches over the shoulder-high wheel. He has round cheeks, delicate facial features, and chubby rolls at his wrists and thighs. He is nude except for white cloths fluttering across his torso and another lifting up behind him from around his neck. His face turns to us, and he looks down. Both hands are draped over the spoked wheel to our left. A tree grows behind Cupid, to our right, and an animal skull hangs from ribbons on a low branch, in the upper right corner of the canvas. The skull has a long muzzle like a deer. Cupid’s short curls, the cloths, and the ribbons swirl in different directions. A few plants grow around the base of the tree and clouds billow in the shallow background.

Cupid with the Wheel of Time

Titian

c. 1515/1520

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1939.1.213

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M25

This painting shows a person standing on a small rectangular platform, with one knee slightly bent and the heel of that foot raised off of the ground. The person has pale skin with rosy cheeks, arched eyebrows, brown eyes with dark lashes, small lips in a neutral expression, and long, wavy yellow hair. They are wearing a red robe with a knot around the neckline and a green sash with gold designs around the waist. They are barefoot, and their left hand is on their hip while the other is holding a black staff with gold details at the top, bottom, and middle. The background features a green landscape with buildings, small trees, and a distant body of blue water. There is a gray building on the right, and in front there are two people, one seeming to chase the other. There are more people on the left, including one person who is being restrained by two other people, with a third person holding a sword over them. The people wear clothes in shades of pink, red, green, and silvery gray. The sky above is pale blue. The top of the painting is arched.

Joseph of Egypt

Master of the Griselda Legend

c. 1490/1495

Oil on panel transferred to canvas Accession ID 1952.5.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

Shown from the waist up, a woman and the baby she holds are surrounded by two gray-haired men and four blond angels in this vertical painting. They all have pale skin, gold halos, and brown or gray eyes. At the center of the painting, the woman, Mary, has almond-shaped eyes under thin, arched brows, a long nose, a small, coral-pink mouth, and a narrow chin. Her hair is covered by a long, off-white veil and a cobalt-blue mantle that drapes over her head and around her body. The neckline and cuffs of her rust-orange and gold robe peek out from under the mantle, which is bordered with a delicate gold pattern with a gold star on her left shoulder. The child, Jesus sits upright on Mary’s right arm, on our left, and that hand supports his bottom. Her other hand lies over his bare feet. Jesus’s body is turned toward Mary, but his head is turned back to look to our left. He wears a long, gold and dusty-rose robe over a garment with bronze-colored sleeves. A petal-pink mantle is draped across his back and tucked under his bottom. Jesus touches Mary’s mantle near the neckline with one hand and holds a bird in the other hand. The bird is a little larger than his hand and has a strawberry-red face, light gray body, and brown, gold, and black wings. The people on either side of Mary and Jesus are stacked vertically and turn inward to gaze at the central pair. In the lower left, a balding man with a long gray beard holds his hands in prayer while clutching a rosary made with black beads. In the lower right, a cleanshaven man with his gray hair cut in a tonsure also stands with hands in prayer. Two blond angels lean into the painting from each side. They all have blond hair, small, dark pink mouths, and they wear wreaths of pink roses or green leaves. They are all set against a gold background. Tiny, round holes across the surface pierce through at least the top layer.

Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome, Saint Bernardino, and Angels

Sano di Pietro

c. 1460/1470

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.274

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

This colorful sculpture is a relief depicting a woman kneeling with her hands clasped in prayer, turned to the left, facing a small child lying on the ground. The woman wears draped robes and has a halo behind her head, while the child also has a halo but is nude. The ground the child lies on is green, with tall white flowers sprouting from green stems behind them. The sky behind the woman is blue, and two cherubic heads are on either side of her head, each with halos and wings. At the very top of this scene, two arms reach down from above holding a white crown with green and blue gems, appearing to be about to place it on the woman's head. This scene is framed with an elaborate border with green leaves, yellow fruits, brown pinecones, and clusters of dark purple grapes. At the bottom of the border are two more cherubic heads. Below that is a small section with a green wreath around what appears to be a round coat of arms featuring a lion and a large X. The people in the sculpture are all completely white, and there is a gold arched border around the sculpture.

The Adoration of the Child

Andrea della Robbia

after 1477

Glazed terracotta Accession ID 1961.1.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M9

Leonardo de' Ginori

Giuliano Bugiardini

c. 1528

Oil on panel Accession ID 1942.9.36

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M19

Set in a landscape, a young man holding a broken lance lunges over the neck of his horse to look at the body of a forest-green dragon on the ground beneath them, while a young woman looks on from our left in this vertical painting. The man and woman both have light skin. The horse and rider are in the center, facing our right, and the man’s scarlet-red cape flutters upward. His right arm, to our left, is bent sharply as he thrusts the shard of the red-and-white striped lance down. His eyebrows are drawn together, and his mouth is open, the corner we can see pulled down. Form-fitting, royal-purple armor protects his torso, and he wears a bronze and silver helmet topped with red and white feathers. His muscular arms are bare, as is the knee we can see between a celery-green skirt and a gray sandal that covers most of that shin. His saddle and saddle blanket are blueberry blue. The brown horse has a dark mane and tail. It lunges forward and down with mouth wide open and teeth bared, so it trounces or pins the dragon beneath its front legs. The dragon is curled in a ball on the lower right side of the composition with its head wrenched backward onto its body. Crimson-red drops of blood drip from its gaping mouth. The young woman stands on the left side of the composition with one knee kneeling on a tall rock. She faces us, wearing a cranberry-red gown under a gold cloak that drapes from her right shoulder, to our left, across her back, and over the other knee. A delicate gold crown rests on her dark blond hair, and she lifts her eyes to look up at the man. Her hands are raised in front of her chest, with gold bracelets and chains hanging from her wrists. In the lower right corner of the painting, a severed foot, arm, and two heads lie near the dragon. Trees with tall, narrow, deep green canopies and one tree with spindly branches lined with delicate leaves separate the scene in front of us from the landscape beyond. In the distance, a city of white stone buildings cluster on a steep hill that rises to our left from a harbor. Tiny in scale, about a dozen people are gathered on two roofs of a multi-level structure, while others move on foot or on horseback down a road leading toward us. The powder-blue sky is scattered with puffy, white clouds. A winged angel surrounded by a butter-yellow aura hovers in the upper right corner.

Saint George and the Dragon

Sodoma

probably 1518

Oil on panel Accession ID 1952.5.76

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M19

This painting depicts two people, an adult man and a young boy. The man is seen from the knees up, standing with one arm on a table and the other on his hip. He has light skin, light green eyes, a brown beard and mustache, and dark hair under a black cap. He is wearing a bright red jacket with several buttons down the front, which is open to reveal a white garment with several pleats and folds. The boy, who has short brown hair and fair skin, leans against the man's leg, tying a bow on the white garment and looking over his shoulder at us. He wears a yellow outfit with subtle white stripes. On the left is a table covered with dark green fabric which the man has his hand on; there are three books on it, and a letter on white paper propped up against the books. The background is a muted green-brown color.

Alessandro Alberti with a Page

North Italian 16th Century, Gian Paolo Pace

possibly 1544/1545

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1952.5.80

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M22

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven man wears furs and fine fabrics in this vertical portrait painting. He is angled to our left and looks down in that direction with brown eyes under slender brows. His shoulder-length, dark brown hair is topped by a soft black cap adorned with a gold medallion-like badge over the temple closer to us. The man has a long, pointed nose, his pale pink lips are closed, and his jawline is darkened by a five-o-clock shadow. He wears a white shirt with a wide, square neckline under a vest or low-cut doublet striped with black and gold. A voluminous black overcoat is lined with tawny-brown fur and edged with gold, L-shaped bands over the shoulders. He holds the sides of the coat together low on his chest with his right hand, to our left. The sleeve looks like black velvet over a translucent white cuff, and the man wears a gold ring with a gray gem on that index finger. A brown band across the bottom of the picture could be a narrow ledge in front of the man or a board or slab oriented vertically, like a frame. A small piece of white, creased paper appears to be affixed to the front of the board with red wax, a glimpse of which is shown along the top edge. A scarlet-red curtain hangs behind the man across the left two-thirds of the composition. A rectangle on the dark wall to our right could be a window opening or a painting. There we find a hilly landscape with trees, buildings, and water. Close to us in that distant view, a man wearing robes and on horseback rides away from a man carrying a lance and running after the horse.

Portrait of a Gentleman

Bartolomeo Veneto

c. 1520

Oil on panel transferred to canvas Accession ID 1939.1.257

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M10

A woman holds the hands of two nude children in front of a crimson-red cloth in this vertical painting. All three have pale skin and brown hair. The woman wears a forest-green dress with voluminous sleeves and a gauzy white headdress that wraps around her hair and is fastened with a band across her forehead. She stands crouching with one foot extended slightly forward in a sandal, surrounded by broken chunks of masonry and bits of burning logs. Her body faces us but she turns her head to the right. Her mouth is wide open, and her eyes cut back to our left. The woman clutches the children’s hands in both of her own. The child to our left turns away from us and reaches one hand up to touch the back of the woman’s hand. The child on the right twists away from the woman, eyes squinted up and to the right and mouth open. Behind them, fold lines create a grid across the red cloth. Slivers of grass and blue sky line each side of the composition.

The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her Children

Ercole de' Roberti

c. 1490/1493

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1965.7.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M13