Italian Medieval and Renaissance Paintings and Sculptures

On View: West Building, Main Floor

Gallery number

367 artworks on view.

A young bearded man, Jesus, kneels and looks up at a winged angel as two groups of sleeping men huddle behind him in this almost square painting. The men all have pale skin, blond or white hair, and gold, disk-like halos. Jesus’s halo has a red cross on it as well, and it hovers over his long copper-colored hair. He wears a terracotta-red cloak over a celestial-blue robe, and he presses his hands together in prayer as he looks sharply up at the winged angel floating in the upper right corner of the composition. Smaller in scale, the angel has white wings and flowing robes, and holds a gold chalice in one outstretched hand. The angel’s head is surrounded by a flat, golden glow like a cap. The men behind Jesus, to our left, sleep in two groups in the gloomy, rocky landscape. The men wear robes in rose pink, black, scarlet red, steel blue, or brown. Closest to us are three men who lie close behind Jesus’s bare feet, while a larger group is tucked beyond a mound in the near distance. The terrain is painted with muted green, gray, and tan with a fence in the lower left corner and a rock formation rising in the middle of the landscape. Distant hills studded with trees and a few structures span the high horizon, which comes three-quarters of the way up the composition. A thick band of charcoal-gray clouds descends on the slate-blue sky above.

The Agony in the Garden

Benvenuto di Giovanni

probably 1491

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.318

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

Sculpted in clay, a toddler balances his plump body on his right foot as he raises his left leg and right arm. In ths photograph, his body is squared to us. His left hand, on our right, rests near his hip. Gazing up and to our left, his cheeks are puffed in blowing through pursed lips, and his hair falls in soft ringlets. The fingers of his raised hand are folded into a loose fist. Tipped slightly forward onto his toes, he balances on a gold-half dome.

Putto Poised on a Globe

Andrea del Verrocchio

c. 1480

Unbaked clay Accession ID 1937.1.128

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M9

The Finding of Moses

Veronese

c. 1581/1582

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1937.1.38

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M27

Two panels on a gilded, carved, wooden frame are swung open like shutters to show a bearded, gray-haired man wearing robes standing in each wing, on either side of panel with a pointed, arched top showing a woman holding a baby. In a three-lobed shape in the apex above the woman and child, a nude man crosses his arms over his chest. All the people have pale, ivory-colored skin. Gold halos encircle each person’s head and the background of all three panels is bright gold. The woman in the center panel is shown from the hips up with her body facing us. The deep blue mantle that drapes over her shoulders and her dusty rose-pink dress beneath are trimmed in gold. A sheer veil covers her wavy blond hair and a red, triangular form sits above her forehead like a diadem. She looks to our right with dark, almond-shaped eyes. She has a straight nose, her coral-pink lips are closed, and her smooth cheeks are lightly flushed with pale pink. She holds the child in the crook of her left arm, on our right, and rests her other hand in the baby’s lap. He has short, curly blond hair and looks directly at the woman. He reaches his right arm, farther from us, around his mother’s neck and hooks his other hand in the neckline of her dress. He wears a sheer shirt edged in gold, and the fabric draped around his hips is patterned with tangerine-orange and gold, with lapis-blue clover designs. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy tummy, but his facial features and arms are scaled more like an adult. Twisted columns separate this central panel from the shutter-like panels to each side. A single person stands in each wing, filling most of the space, and both are angled and look towards the central panel. Both men have darker, olive-toned complexions, wear long robes trimmed in gold, and stand on floors patterned with orange, gold, and sparsely spaced royal blue diamond-shapes. The man to our left has short, steel-gray hair and a trimmed beard. Wrinkles line his forehead, and his brow is furrowed. He wears a topaz-blue, long sleeved garment under a honey-orange robe, the underside of which is ruby-red where it turns back over his wrists and shoulder. He holds a book with a dark cover up in his left hand, farther from us, and a large skeleton key in his other hand. In the right panel, a balding man has a fringe of long, gray hair and a flowing, full beard. His forehead is also creased with wrinkles and his brow is furrowed. The dark, olive-green lining of his rose-pink robe shows where it folds back at his neck, over his wrists, and down the front. His robe covers a topaz-blue garment as well. He holds a book, also with a dark cover, by his side with his left hand, closer to us, and holds up a feather quill with his opposite hand. The inner edges of each of the central panel and both wings are incised with bands of decorative floral and geometric designs punched into the gold backgrounds. In the pointed peak above the central panel, the nude man is shown from the waist up in a three-lobed, clover shape that would be visible even if the wings were closed. The man’s body faces us but his haloed head tips to his right, our left. He has a beard and long brown hair, and a hole dripping blood pierces the back of his left hand, visible on our right. The base of the tryptic is inscribed with gold letters in a dark field: “AVE GRATIA PLENA DO.”

Saint Peter [left panel]

Nardo di Cione

c. 1360

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.261.a

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1

This horizontal painting is made up of three parts: in the center square panel, a woman reclines under a wooden shelter set into a rocky cave, which is surrounded by angels, and narrower wings to either side are each occupied by a standing man. All the people have pale skin, which is tinged with faint green. The three panels are joined with a gold frame, and the gold background behind the central scene and the men in the side panels are covered with a noticeable network of cracks. In the central panel, a cobalt-blue robe nearly envelopes the reclining woman’s body; this is Mary. It covers her head and falls open where she crosses her wrists over her chest to show a pink garment underneath. A flat gold halo encircles her head ,and her body is surrounded by a field of crimson red, almost like an aura. She rests under a wooden structure with a pitched roof, which is surrounded by craggy, barren rock. A swaddled infant lies in a rectangular, tray-like manger. The infant’s head is also surrounded by a gold halo. Fine gold rays emanate down into the structure from a star just above the peak of the roof. A bull and a donkey look down at the baby from the far side of the manger. The interior of the structure behind them is black. In a smaller scale, two women wash a haloed infant in a tub in front of the rocky cave near the lower left corner of this panel. A man with a white beard and hair sits to our left of Mary, holding a pink cloak at his throat and looking toward the infant. Above and around the rocks, seven winged and haloed angels cluster on each side. One angel to the right presents a scroll with black writing to two men accompanied by a dog and several sheep in the lower right. The man in the panel to the left, Isaiah, has a gray beard and long, wavy hair, and he wears a lilac-purple cloak draped over a coral-orange robe. In his right hand, on our left, he holds an unfurled scroll with large black lettering. His other hand is raised with one finger pointing upward. He looks to our left, away from the central scene. On the right, Ezekiel, echoes Isaiah's pose. Ezekiel holds an open scroll with his left hand, on our right, and his other hand is raised. He also wears a coral-colored robe, but his is overlaid with a blue cloak. His receding hair is short and brown, as is his beard. Like Isaiah, he takes up most of the height of the panel and gazes to our left, toward the central panel.

The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel

Duccio di Buoninsegna

1308-1311

Tempera on single poplar panel Accession ID 1937.1.8

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1

A haloed man with his back to us approaches a crowd gathered in a crate-like box unexpectedly set into a rocky landscape in this square painting. The central man, Jesus, is covered with a white cloth across one shoulder and both hips, and he carries a white banner marked with a red cross. He is barefoot as he steps on the opening to the box, which is hinged along the bottom edge. The door has crushed a wild-haired demon with red-colored skin against the pebble-strewn ground below. More than two dozen men and women of all ages are crowded into the box, their round faces tipped back and looking toward Jesus. All the people have pale skin. Jesus reaches out his left hand to hold the wrist of a man with a long white beard and hair, who kneels to the left. This kneeling man wears a dark, fur-like garment, and a hoe is hooked across his bent knee. Jesus holds the hand of a second man, who also kneels, to our right. This man wears a canary-yellow robe edged in blue, and he grips Jesus’s wrist with his second hand. A man wearing a purple toga over another fur-like garment stands behind. The box-like structure is set within a massive, striated boulder. More rocky cliffs rise to each side of the central form, and the sky above is sapphire blue.

Christ in Limbo

Benvenuto di Giovanni

probably 1491

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1952.5.54

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

Seen from the lap up, a woman wearing a marine-blue robe over a crimson-red dress holds a nude baby boy on her lap in this vertical painting. Both people have smooth, pale, peachy skin. The woman sits with her body angled to our left and she looks down at or toward the baby. Her blond hair is pulled back with a blue ribbon or covering at the back of her head. She has delicately arching eyebrows, a long, straight nose, and her small pink lips are closed. The moss-green underside of her blue robe is visible where it turns back over her wrists and around her neck. Her red dress is edged with black along the squared neckline and tied at the waist with a black band. She supports the seated baby with her right hand, on our left, and holds her other hand at the ready near his legs. The baby sits angled to our right, toward the woman, but he turns to look over his shoulder to our left. His blond hair falls to a point over his forehead. He has delicate features with light brown eyes, a small, pointed nose, and a small, pink mouth. He also has pudgy, baby-like cheeks, tummy, arms, and legs. The horizon of the landscape behind the pair comes about three-quarters of the way up the panel, behind the woman’s shoulders. Hazy blue mountains, trees, and the suggestion of a town with buildings and a church spire line the horizon in the deep distance beneath a pale blue sky.

Madonna and Child

Pietro Perugino

c. 1500

Oil on poplar panel Accession ID 1939.1.215

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M20

Madonna and Child, with the Man of Sorrows [middle panel]

Nardo di Cione

c. 1360

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.261.b

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1

Saint John the Evangelist [right panel]

Nardo di Cione

c. 1360

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1939.1.261.c

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1

This painting shows the upper body of a man with his body turned to us and his head looking to the left. The man has short, reddish-brown hair, light skin, rosy cheeks, arched eyebrows, and a small mouth in a neutral expression. He is wearing a dark purple garment with some designs around the neckline under a bright orange robe that is draped over his shoulders. He holds the edge of the robe in his right hand and is holding a red book in his left hand. A golden halo surrounds his head. The background is textured gold, and the painting is framed in a black arched frame.

Saint Judas Thaddeus

Simone Martini

c. 1315/1320

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1952.5.26

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M1

About two dozen men and women are gathered mainly in three groups in a grassy landscape in this nearly square panel. The action revolves around a man, Jesus, carrying a cross at the center of the composition. The people all have pale skin and wear robes, dresses, or tunics tomato red, cobalt blue, spruce green, deep yellow, gray, or white. Jesus wears a rose-pink robe, and blood trickles across his head from a ring of thorns thrust down over his shoulder-length brown hair. His flat, disk-like halo is gold with a red cross like a plus sign, and a tall wooden cross is braced across one shoulder. Two gaunt men in gray tunics jab and jeer at Jesus, mouths pulled back to show their teeth. A group of about seven men look on from over Jesus’s shoulder, including one man with gold-colored hair and gold armor. Another armored man wearing a helmet lies back on a rocky outcropping low to the ground in the lower right corner. The second group gathers behind three people also with halos to our right. The woman at the front center holds her hands out, palms up. Her lapis-blue cloak covers her head over a white veil and falls to her feet over a ruby-red dress. A woman with loose, blond hair looks up and raises her hands overhead to our left, and a fresh-faced young person stands to our right. One more person in the crowd of about six people behind this trio has a halo as well. Two boys perch in trees over this group, looking down between forks in the branches. The third group is to our left, and they gather behind a pair of men on white or brown horses. Pebbles are strewn on the dirt ground under the bare feet of Jesus and his tormentors. Grassy fields dotted with trees stretch into the distance to a town of spires, towers, and turrets on the horizon, which comes about three-quarters of the way up this composition. A few thin clouds skit across the blue sky above.

Christ Carrying the Cross

Benvenuto di Giovanni

probably 1491

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1952.5.52

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8

A man, Jesus, is nailed to a cross by his hands and feet and is flanked by groups of about a dozen people to each side, all against a hilly, deep landscape in this horizontal painting. All the people have peachy, nearly golden skin, and their clothing is mostly vibrant yellow, red, blue, and purple. The horizon comes about two-thirds of the way up this composition and crosses behind Jesus’s waist, so the top half of his body and the cross are silhouetted against the ice-blue sky. Eyes closed, Jesus’s head hangs by his shoulder, to our left. Blood drips from the nails driven through his hands, from a gash over his right ribs, and more runs in a continuous stream from his overlapping feet onto the stony ground. Blood also trickles down his shoulder-length brown hair under a ring of thorns. A flat, disk-like halo hovers over his head so it angles sharply toward us, but we can see a red cross on the underside. The letters “INRI” are written in white on a red panel affixed to the top of the cross. The man is nude except for a white cloth across his hips. To our left, a man sits on a red saddle astride a dark brown horse. The balding man has a white beard and hair. He holds a long spear with its pointed end dripping blood against his body with one hand, and holds up his other hand by his chest as he looks at Jesus. In front of him and to our left, a group of six women and one man gather and kneel around a swooning woman. Closest to us, the fainting woman wears a raspberry-pink gown under a blue mantle, which covers her head and shoulders over a white veil. Her body is braced to our right by a cleanshaven man with long, curly blond hair, wearing a tan robe. A woman wearing a purple dress under an orange robe, with unbound, flax-yellow hair, supports the swooning woman’s body on the other side, to our left. Four more women look on from behind this trio. All of them have white veils over their heads, and one has a red mantle over her veil. Tears fall from everyone’s eyes in this group. Five of them, including the woman and those supporting her, have flat, disk-like halos. A short distance away to our left, three children look at the cross from a tall hill. Two sit together, and one stands and holds onto the trunk of a tree growing there. They wear tones of yellow, orange, and rose pink. Next to the cross to our right is a white horse, also with a red saddle. A man with brown hair and beard, wearing purple and yellow, looks up to Jesus. To the right, three men in armor draw straws from the fist of a fourth. Two more men stand near this group and six sit on horses behind them. The rocky ground at the base of the cross is strewn with stones. A green meadow stretches back to a body of water, which is lined with pale blue mountains in the hazy distance.

The Crucifixion

Benvenuto di Giovanni

probably 1491

Tempera on panel Accession ID 1952.5.53

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M8