Italian Medieval and Renaissance Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

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367 artworks on view.

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A man and two winged angels support the limp body of a muscular, nearly nude man, Jesus, who is perched on the end of a tomb in this wide, horizontal painting. The people all have nearly white-colored skin faintly tinged with green. Jesus’s knees and body are angled very slightly to our left, and his head hangs down in that direction with his eyes and lips closed. He has a beard and long blond hair and a delicate gold halo. White cloth wraps around his shoulders and upper arms and another across his hips, and blood trickles from a gash over his right ribs. The man supporting him is bearded and wears a sapphire-blue turban and a raspberry-red robe. He looks at us from over Jesus’s left shoulder, to our right, and he supports Jesus’s torso with both hands. Both angels have blue robes over amethyst-purple garments visible only at the necklines and cuffs, long blond hair, gold halos, and wings shaded with pastel blue, yellow, and pink. They each support one of Jesus’s arms near the elbows. The angel to our left looks up at Jesus and holds one end of the white cloth that wraps around Jesus’s shoulders. The other angel looks down and holds a ring of thorns. The fabric separates Jesus’s body from the man and angel’s touch for all four hands. Jesus’s legs are shown from the mid-thigh up against the dark opening of the rectangular tomb. The area behind the group is dark within a rocky outcropping painted with shades of caramel and ash brown.

Pietà (The Dead Christ Mourned by Nicodemus and Two Angels)

Filippino Lippi

c. 1500

Oil (and possibly tempera) on panel  Accession ID  1952.5.86

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M7
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A winged angel leads a clean-shaven young man across a landscape in this vertical painting. The angel and man nearly fill the composition. They both have pale skin slightly tinged with green, rosy cheeks, copper-blond curly hair, fluttering robes, and halos. Their jaws are rounded, and their full lips closed. They each step forward onto one foot. To our left, the angel’s head turns back with eyes downcast or closed. The angel’s sky-blue robe is gathered up around the waist and falls to the ankles. The neckline and bottom hem are edged with gold writing, and the halo is a gold ring filled in with gold dots. The angel holds a gold vessel or object in the right hand, farther from us, and reaches the other arm slightly back. The man, Tobias, leans forward and reaches one arm to hook wrists with the angel. A scroll curls down from Tobias’s wrist. He tips his head to our left and looks up with large, light brown eyes. He wears a rose-pink robe over a powder-blue tunic. The robe also has gold lettering around the lower hem, and he wears matching pink stockings and shin-high, golden-yellow boots. He carries a fish hanging from a gold thread with his other hand. Gold rays radiate around his head like a starburst. A small, shaggy white dog looks at the ground to our left of the angel’s feet. Some forest-green shrubs and spindly trees with sage-green canopies grow on the far side of the path. Water winds into the distance to meet white buildings along the right edge of the composition. More trees and a steeple are hazy blue in the distance along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the painting. The sky is streaked with white and ice blue.

Tobias and the Angel

Filippino Lippi

c. 1475/1480

Oil and tempera on poplar panel  Accession ID  1939.1.229

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M7
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A man wearing armor, sitting astride a cream-white horse, drives a long lance down at a lizard-like dragon as a woman kneels with her hands in prayer in the landscape beyond in this vertical painting. Both people have pale skin and thin, gold halos floating above their heads. At the center of the composition, the man faces our left in profile as he looks down at the creature. The man has a straight nose and honey-brown hair under his gold-trimmed, pewter-gray helmet. Armor covers his entire body, and a celestial-blue cape billows behind him from where it fastens around his neck. A narrow, indigo-blue and gold band is tied around his left calf, and is inscribed with the word “HONI.” A black sword hangs from his left side. The horse is white with a silvery-white mane and tail. It rears on its hind legs as it turns its head to look at us with hazel-brown eyes. The horse wears a blue saddle and bridle, the same color as the man’s cape, trimmed with gold. A strap around the horse’s neck is painted in gold with the name, “RAPHELLO.” The rider thrusts his foot into the stirrup we can see as he plunges a lance down at the dragon under the horse’s front feet. The dragon has tawny brown skin with a mint green, dog-like head. It grips the earth with clawed feet as at pushes at the lance with one front foot. It twists its long, snake-like neck to look at the man with dark eyes. The dragon opens its pointed snout to show its teeth, and bat-like wings splay out. A tall outcropping over a cave rises along the left edge of the composition, behind the dragon. In a field a little farther back, to our right, the woman kneels with her body angled to our left. She tilts her head away from us and gazes past the man and horse. She has a straight nose, pale pink, bow-shaped lips, and her blond hair is pulled back in a bun. She wears a ruby-red dress and a sheer white wrap around her shoulders and across her arms. Around the woman, straw-yellow hills with bands of pine-green trees roll into the distance. Two terracotta-orange towers rise from a row of trees along the horizon. A few taller trees are outlined against the baby-blue sky, which lightens toward the horizon.

Saint George and the Dragon

Raphael

c. 1506

Oil on panel  Accession ID  1937.1.26

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M20
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A winged, blond angel kneels facing our right in profile wearing a gold garment, and is shown against a gold background in this vertical painting. The textured robe the angel wears is a similar color to the background, and with the golden hair and wings, the painting is almost entirely gold. The angel’s pale skin has a greenish cast but the cheeks are rosy. Blond hair curls around the face and falls over the shoulders. The angel looks to our right with slitted eyes over a long, straight nose, and pale pink lips are closed. The hand farther from us is drawn across the chest and tucked under the arm closer to us, with which the angel holds a tall leafy palm frond. The inside surface of the wing facing us deepens from butter yellow to tangerine orange, and the other side of the wings are lapiz blue. The robe is textured with gold swirls against slate blue for the shadows and rose pink on the sleeves. A gold halo encircles the angel’s head and the gold background is textured with an ornate decorative border along the inner of edges of the top and both sides. The floor beneath the angel is ruby red. The gilding has worn away in some areas, especially in the background, so the red layer beneath is visible through cracks.

The Angel of the Annunciation

Simone Martini

c. 1330

Tempera on poplar panel  Accession ID  1939.1.216

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M3
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This square portrait shows the head and shoulders of a young woman in front of a spiky bush that fills much of the background except for a landscape view that extends into the deep distance to our right. The woman's body is angled to our right but her face turns to us. She has chalk-white, smooth skin with heavily lidded, light brown eyes, and her pale pink lips are closed. Pale blush highlights her cheeks, and she looks either at us or very slightly away from our eyes. Her brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back, but tight, lively curls frame her face. Her hair turns gold where the light shines on it. She wears a brown dress, trimmed along the square neckline with gold. The front of the bodice is tied with a blue ribbon, and the lacing holes are also edged with gold. A sheer white veil covers her chest and is pinned at the center with a small gold ball. The bush fills the space around her head with copper-brown, spiky leaves. A river winds between trees and rolling hills in the distance to our right. Trees and a town along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the painting, is pale blue under an ice-blue sky.

Ginevra de' Benci [obverse]

Leonardo da Vinci

c. 1474/1478

Oil on panel  Accession ID  1967.6.1.a

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M6
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In a wide, arched panel, a bearded man wearing a crown places another crown on the head of a woman. To our right, the woman bows her head with her eyes nearly closed and crosses her wrists over her chest. A white cloak covers her head, drapes over her shoulders, and pools in deep folds around her feet. The cloak is lined with pine green, and she wears a shell-pink dress. To our left, the man has shoulder-length, curly gray hair and a beard. His robe is dark rose pink, and the cloak is azure blue lined with pine green. Two winged angels have brown hair, short, white wings, and wear voluminous white robes. They stand to either side of the man and woman and hold up a swag of raspberry-red cloth hung with gold tassels. All the people have pale, peachy skin. Winged baby heads encircled with gold rays create an arch behind the man and woman, who sit on clouds. The background is pale blue sky.

The Coronation of the Virgin

Filippino Lippi

c. 1475

Tempera and oil on poplar panel  Accession ID  1943.4.36

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M9
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An armored man on horseback hands a piece of emerald-green cloth down to the nearly nude man standing next to him in this slightly stylized, vertical painting. Both men have light skin, and they, along with the horse, nearly fill the composition. To our right, the bright white horse stands angled to our right with the front left hoof raised. It has a smoke-gray mane, and wears a black bridle. The man riding the horse has short, copper-blond hair and a long face with a pointed chin. He looks down at the ground with dark eyes under black, arched brows. He has a long, thin nose, and his small lips are closed and framed by the faint suggestion of a mustache. He wears a white ruff pleated into figure-eights over his high-necked armor, which is liberally outlined and decorated with gold against the pewter-colored plates. He grips the voluminous, green cape in one hand and holds a sword in the other, down by the leg we can see. The cleanshaven man next to him, to our left, looks off to our right in profile. He has close-cropped, dark hair and smooth skin. His lips are parted, and he tips his head slightly away from us. He holds the green cloth with the hand closer to the horse and gestures down with his other pointer finger, in front of his hip. A white cloth bandage is wrapped around one shin, and he rests his weight on the other leg. The horse and man stand on a curving spit of brown earth. A spring-green landscape dips down behind them, running low near the bottom edge of the painting. The horizon comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and fog-gray and white clouds create thin screens across the topaz-blue sky. The loose brushstrokes are visible in some areas, especially in the landscape and clothing. The artist signed his name in Greek near the lower right corner.

Saint Martin and the Beggar

El Greco

1597/1599

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1942.9.25

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M28
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A nude man, Jesus, stands with hands together in prayer, hip-deep in a stylized river with a bearded man wearing a fur-like garment on a rocky bank to one side and two winged angels on the other, all against a gleaming gold background in this vertical painting. Another bearded man wearing a white robe floats in a blue field at the top center of the panel. All the people have pale skin, brown hair, and gold halos encircle their heads. At the center of the painting, Jesus’s body is angled to our left, and he tips his head the same direction. Jesus has shoulder-length hair and a trimmed beard. Slate-blue water reaching his hips is painted with regular, white, curving lines to suggest flowing water. Standing on the flat top of a tan-colored rock to our left, the other man head has raggedy, darker brown hair and a fuller beard. His brow is furrowed, and he has dark eyes. He wears the brown, fur-like garment under a white robe. He steps forward on his left foot, farther from us, to touch Jesus’s head with his right hand, and he holds a staff in his other hand. To our right, the angels stand side-by-side facing Jesus. The angel farther from us wears indigo blue and the one closer to us wears a brick-red, patterned, long robe over bare feet. A swath of beige, geometrically patterned fabric drapes over that angel’s arm, whose hands are also held together in prayer. Their wings darken from cream-white at the top to golden yellow, then burnt orange at the bottom. Stylized trees, one to our left and two to our right, grow from the rocky hills beyond the people. In a half-circle at the top, a man smaller in scale hovers, chest down, over the scene. He lifts his right hand toward Jesus and holds a book with a crimson-red cover with his other hand. The semi-circle fades from deep teal at the center to pale aquamarine blue at the outer edge, and is painted with gold starbursts. The entire scene has a gold border with clover-like forms set within diamonds along the inner edge of the panel.

The Baptism of Christ

Giovanni Baronzio

c. 1335

Tempera on panel  Accession ID  1939.1.131

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1
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A woman with blond hair dances in the center of a room with a group of people clustered around a banqueting table to our right with a small, enclosed space occupied by a kneeling man and executioner to our left in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale skin. The ceiling is made up of blue squares encased in a gold grid that recedes to the back, stone wall of the room. The woman’s dress is made of fabric that looks vivid royal blue or butter yellow, depending on how the light hits it. Facing our right in profile as she dances, she steps forward onto her left foot, raises her right foot behind her, and holds her right arm aloft. Four men wearing crimson-red, pine-green, yellow, or bright blue robes or tunics and stockings stand behind the long table set along the wall to our right. A bearded man at the center of the table wears a red hat and fur-lined red robe. He touches his right hand to his chest and holds a knife on the table in his other hand as he looks at the dancing woman. Glasses, dishes, and bowls are arrayed along the table, which is draped with a white tablecloth. A trio of blond, curly-haired, cleanshaven men and a woman with her arms crossed across her chest stand at the far, narrow end of the table, on the other side of the room. Within an alcove at the back of the room, the dancer appears again, kneeling before a seated woman wearing a ruby-red dress. The dancer holds or gestures toward a silver plate holding the severed head of a bearded man with brown hair that rests in the seated woman’s lap. The left third of the painting is taken up with an enclosure, a tiny room set like a tall, stone box within the larger room. Through an arched opening, a haloed man wearing an ivory-white, fur garment kneels facing us, his head bowed over his hands in prayer. He is the same man as the one beheaded and presented on the plate in the background. A man wearing yellow and blue armor raises a sword over his head, preparing to behead the kneeling man.

The Feast of Herod and the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Benozzo Gozzoli

1461-1462

Tempera on poplar panel  Accession ID  1952.2.3

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M4
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Four people with pale skin are gathered to our right in a landscape, their heads bowed down toward an infant who lies on a white cloth on the ground in this horizontal painting. The nude baby has a rounded belly, chubby limbs, and short blond hair. To our right and near the edge of the panel, a woman kneels with her hands in prayer, looking toward the baby so she faces our left in profile. She wears a lapis-blue robe over a rose-pink dress, and a white cloth covers her head and shoulders. Behind her and to our left, a man with a white beard, wearing a golden yellow robe, sits or kneels next to a rock at the mouth of a cave cut into a rocky outcropping that extends off the top of the composition. To the left of the baby and at the center of the foreground, a pair of men wear tattered clothing and hold shepherd’s staffs. The man closer to us kneels with his hands pressed together in prayer as the man behind him bends his knee as if to kneel. The landscape recedes deep into the distance on the left half of the painting with a winding river, houses and other buildings, grassy hills, and mountains beneath a blue sky. A small winged angel wearing white looks down on the scene from the upper left corner.

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Giorgione

1505/1510

Oil on panel  Accession ID  1939.1.289

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M10
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Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned man with a narrow face looks at us from in front of a distant landscape in this vertical portrait painting. His body and face are angled to our left, so he looks at us from the corners of his brown eyes. He has dark, low brows, a straight nose, high cheekbones, and his rose-pink lips turn slightly down at the corners. Chestnut-brown waves fall over his ears and down the back of his neck from under a tall, brimless, rounded, black cap. His black robe has a high neck lined with a white undergarment. Far behind him, a grassy hill leads up to steep, rocky outcroppings, with those to our right dotted with trees. The land rolls into the distance to meet mountains, hazy blue along the horizon, which comes halfway up this composition. The clear sky above deepens from pale blue along the mountains to slate blue across the top.

Portrait of Lorenzo di Credi

Pietro Perugino

1488

Oil on panel transferred to canvas  Accession ID  1942.9.38

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M6
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Shown from the chest up, this pale-skinned woman wears a transparent veil and a green gown laced up the bodice in this vertical portrait painting. Her shoulders and face angle to our left, and she looks at us from the corners of her brown eyes with her head tipped slightly away from us. She has faint, arched brows, a long, delicate nose, and a rounded jaw. Shallow dimples to either side of her pale pink lips suggest a faint smile over a cleft chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a diaphanous veil, which is held in place with a band around the crown of her head. The veil falls in gossamer folds over her shoulders. The bodice and sleeves of her gown are asparagus green. The front is laced over a white shirt, and the white fabric has been pulled through at her shoulders where the sleeves would be tied to the bodice. The gold dress and the white chemise are edged with bands of floral, geometric patterns in gold, and a gold belt wraps around her waist. The pendant hanging from her pearl necklace has red and blue gems set in gold, with three more pearls hanging from the bottom. Another necklace looks like a chain of small, star-like forms, and it is tucked into her bodice. She holds her right hand, to our left, cupped near her chest, and her other arm hangs by her side, off the bottom edge of the composition. The background is black, and the edge of the panel is decorated with a band of gold, geometric, knot-like patterns. The gold border disappears behind the woman’s shoulders, which span the width of the painting.

Portrait of a Young Woman

Girolamo di Benvenuto

c. 1508

Oil on poplar panel  Accession ID  1939.1.353

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8
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