The Madonna and Child in Majesty Surrounded by Angels

This Madonna and Child, also known as the Maestà, is a panel by Cimabue executed in tempera on a gold ground. The Virgin sits enthroned holding the Christ Child, surrounded by angels. Its date is usually placed around 1280, although the record gives 1300, so both dates should be read with some caution. The work came from the church of San Francesco in Pisa and entered the Louvre in 1813, as part of the Napoleonic seizure of artworks in Italy; it hangs there alongside a Giotto from the same church. What stands out to the visitor is the arrangement of the angels, stacked one above another without any spatial organisation, which suggests an approach that predates fictive perspective. The throne resembles the one in the Maestà Cimabue later painted in Assisi. Its main significance lies in establishing a model of the Virgin and Child that other painters, such as Duccio in the Rucellai Maestà, adopted as a reference.

Painter

Cimabue

Date

1300

Medium

tempera, fond d'or

Dimensions

427 × 280 cm

Museum

Louvre Museum, Paris

Genre

religious art

Depicts

Mary, Christ Child

Share:FacebookWhatsApp