Italian Medieval and Renaissance Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

366 artworks on view.

The sculpture depicts a standing female figure dressed in flowing robes, holding a stick or staff in her right hand while her left hand grasps a part of her attire. She is positioned within a niche that features a scallop shell-like pattern surrounding her head. The sculpture is crafted from marble, giving it a smooth, white appearance with subtle grey veins. The figure is shown in a frontal pose, standing with feet slightly apart on a shallow ledge, while her head is tilted slightly downward, her eyes closed. The detailed drapery of the clothing and the expression on her face contribute to an overall sense of grace and tranquility.

Faith

Mino da Fiesole

1475/1480

Marble Accession ID 1937.1.118

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M5

A woman and child are carved in low relief from a white marble, vertically oriented, rectangular panel, which is set within a painted wood frame. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she looks down in that direction at the child seated on her lap. She has a long, delicate nose, a pointed chin, and her lips are closed. Her wavy hair is pulled back under a cloth that covers her heads and drapes over her shoulders. Her cloak waves in lively but shallow folds across the surface of the marble. She rests the long fingers of one hand on the baby’s shin and braces his side torso with the other. The nude boy has short, curly hair, round cheeks, chubby proportions, and his lips are parted. He holds a cylindrical object in one hand and reaches his right hand, to our left, to touch the woman’s clothing near her neckline. They both have flat, disk-like halos. The background is lightly carved to resemble an arched niche with leafy and geometric patterns and a leafy garland hanging from loops at the top corners. The marble panel is rounded at the top to encompass the woman’s halo and the top of her head. The frame is painted with stylized flowers and patterns in dark red, sky blue, ivory white, and black against a muted white background. Some of the stepped molding in the frame is gilded. A band across the top of the frame has roundels with two haloed women to either side and a nude baby carrying a cross over one shoulder, appearing to float against a blue background. Three roundels in a band below show women with long hair and halos, each holding objects like palm fronds, a plate, wheel, and a book.

Madonna and Child

Anonymous Artist

1460s or later

Marble Accession ID 1937.1.116

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M5

This painting depicts a man standing, slightly turned to the left. He has pale skin, curly, greyish-white hair, and a short gray beard. He wears a golden robe with intricate designs on the hems over a purple garment with gold stripes on the neck and shoulders. He holds a large object in his right hand that looks like a gold key, and in his left hand he holds a red book. A golden halo surrounds his head. He stands barefoot on a small platform with grass within a reddish-brown border against a black surface. Behind him is a blue background.

Saint Peter

Michele Giambono

c. 1445/1450

Tempera on poplar panel Accession ID 1939.1.80

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M13

This tall, dark metal sculpture consists of a nude woman standing atop an elaborate, tiered base crowded with human faces, seated people, animal forms, and scrolling ornament. The woman stands with one leg slightly bent and her head turned to our right. Her hair is gathered up, and drapery hangs from her raised left hand and falls behind her shoulder and opposite arm. A twisting, branch-like support rises behind her legs.

Directly below her, two partially draped, curly-haired people sit facing one another beneath a projecting ledge decorated with a central face and curling forms. The broader section below is densely ornamented with additional faces, floral motifs, and animal heads projecting from either side.

At the bottom, four large reclining animal forms, perhaps dogs or other creatures, spread outward to create the sculpture's wide base. Their bodies are covered with rounded protrusions and textured details, and shaggy heads extend toward the corners. Smaller human-like forms and garlands fill the spaces between them. The dark surface varies from nearly black in recessed areas to lighter bronze-gray highlights on projecting forms. The sculpture is photographed against a plain light gray background.

Andiron with Figure of Venus

Venetian 17th Century, Tiziano Aspetti

c. 1600/1675

Bronze Accession ID 1961.9.101

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M24

This is a painting of a pastoral scene with a person standing beside a group of sleeping people and animals. The setting includes rolling green hills and towering trees on the right, with a distant gray castle on a mountain to the left. Near the bottom left, there is a person standing and holding a long, thin staff. This person has pale skin and curly blond hair, and they wear a purple dress or robe and laced sandals. They are looking towards us, and their right hand is gesturing towards a group of two people and three animals on the right who are all curled on the grassy ground, appearing to sleep. These people wear clothes in shades of yellow, red, and white, and they also seem to have pale skin and blond hair. The animals look like small dogs. The sky above is pale gray-blue color with soft clouds.

Cephalus and the Nymphs

Bernardino Luini

c. 1520/1522

Fresco Accession ID 1943.4.57

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M26

Madonna and Child with Queen Sancia, Saints, and Angels

Tino di Camaino

c. 1335

Marble Accession ID 1960.5.1

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M2

The sculpture depicts a relief of a mother holding a small child. Both figures have halos. The sculpture is made from a light-colored material and has delicately carved details. The figures are framed by a rectangular, ornate frame with a gilded, golden finish. The mother figure has serene features. She supports the child with one hand while the child stands confidently. This sculpture is mounted on a wall.

Madonna and Child

Antonio Rossellino

c. 1475/1478

Marble Accession ID 1939.1.327

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M5

A laurel branch to the left and a palm branch to the right, both in muted green tones, curve toward each other, crossing near the top to frame a sprig of spiky juniper in this square painting. A scroll with the Latin words “VIRTVUTEM FORMA DECORAT” weaves around and across the circle made by the branches near the bottom of the composition. The laurel has slightly serrated, oblong leaves that come to a point at either end. The palm has closely packed, narrow leaves that flare out like a feather to our right. The laurel, palm, and delicate twig of juniper are cut off near the bottom edge, where there is an area of flat brown that rises like a mound at the middle and tapers to each side. The rest of the background is dark brown speckled with rose pink, and a crimson-red, round seal is pressed into the top right corner.

Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse]

Leonardo da Vinci

c. 1474/1478

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1967.6.1.b

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M6

Allegorical Portrait of Dante

Florentine 16th Century

late 16th century

Oil on panel Accession ID 1961.9.57

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M21

Shown from about the knees up, a woman with pale skin and honey-brown hair stands in the center of this vertical portrait painting. She turns her body slightly to our right and looks down to read a small, chocolate-brown book held up in her left hand, to our right. The book is decorated with gold bands and medallions on the spine and both covers. Her eyes are hooded under faint brows. She has a straight nose, and her small, coral-pink lips are closed. Her hair is pulled back and braided up along the side of her head. Small, translucent tendrils curl over her right temple, to our left. She wears a long, topaz-blue gown with gold trim down the high-necked bodice and the front of the skirt. The dress has dusty rose-pink sleeves edged with white ruffles at the cuffs. A white collar, pleated into figure-eights, nestles around her chin and the base of her skull. Her right arm, to our left, hangs by her side and she grasps a silvery white handkerchief bordered with thin fringe. She wears a gold ring with a red stone in a square setting on the third finger of that hand. A table covered in a scarlet-red tablecloth angles toward us to our right. Almost falling off the edge is a second book in a parchment-gold binding. The two ties at the edges of the pages are loose, and a sheet of folded paper sits on top of the book. Black script on the paper reads, “All'Ill re mia s rae p rona Oss ma la sig ra quinti lia fischieri de Bon a Urbino.” A fern-green curtain is bunched along the left side of the painting, and the rest of the background is olive green.

Quintilia Fischieri

Federico Barocci

probably c. 1600

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1939.1.165

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M21

Close to us, a bearded man with pale, peachy skin sits against a tall, narrow rock formation against a deep landscape in this vertical painting. The man has gray hair, deep-set eyes, high cheekbones, and his lips are downturned in his long beard. He sits with his knees and body angled to our left, but he turns to look up and to our right at a raven perched on the stone. His right elbow, to our left, is propped on a rocky ledge, and his head rests in that hand. His other veined, large hand rests on his knee. He wears a voluminous, long-sleeved, aquamarine-blue robe under a cloth tied around his neck. The cloth is rose-pink on the outside and appears to be lined with fleece on the underside. Near the top right corner of the composition, the raven leans toward the man holding a roll in its beak. The man’s bare feet rest on the dirt ground, and a couple of scrubby plants grow in the lower right corner of the painting, next to the rock on which the man sits. A river cuts through grassy land in the deep distance to the left of the rock formation. Several people gathered near the water’s edge point or look up into the sky, where a man kneeling in a chariot is drawn into a peach-toned cloud bank in the blue sky. Steep mountains on the horizon are icy blue.

Elijah Fed by the Raven

Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo

c. 1510

Oil on panel transferred to canvas Accession ID 1961.9.35

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M22

A light-skinned man with dark hair and a russet-orange beard stands wearing a long, voluminous, fur-lined coat next to a small dog near the corner of a room in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our right but he turns his head to look at us with light brown eyes under faint, ginger brows. He has a straight nose, his cheeks are lightly flushed, and his light peach lips are closed. His ginger beard and mustache are closely trimmed. His wavy, brown hair reaches his ears, and short bangs skim across the top of his forehead. His knee-length, taupe-brown tunic is tied at the waist and has a high neck that encircles layers of black and white collars underneath. The floor-length, flint-gray coat, worn over the tunic, has puffed sleeves that gather at the elbows, and is lined with a broad band of black fur around the neck and down the front. With his right hand, to our left, he grips the fur lining with his index finger extended. His other hand is held in front of his waist with the palm facing up and fingers loosely curled. He wears black pants or stockings over black shoes. The small, long-haired dog sitting to our right near the man’s feet has caramel-brown spots along its back, around its eyes, and over its furry ears. It looks at us with dark eyes, and its mouth curves up. It comes about halfway up the man’s shin and wears a red collar with silver bells. The floor is patterned with fern-green squares in a white grid. The wall behind the man is pale blue. Marble molding along the top is white veined with gray, and a red curtain is bunched up in the upper right corner of the painting, presumably tied against the wall there.

Gian Federico Madruzzo

Giovanni Battista Moroni

c. 1560

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1960.6.27

On View: West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M22