Madonna with Writing Child

Here Pinturicchio, a master of the Italian Renaissance, shows the Virgin seated on what looks like a cask or low bench, holding out a book so that the Christ Child can write in it. The gesture turns a devotional subject into an intimate, almost everyday moment, far from the formal solemnity of many altarpieces. The composition seems to derive from his earlier Madonna of Peace, of around 1490, here simplified, probably for a patron with less interest in learned imagery, perhaps a private family. The Child's garments may have been inspired by late Byzantine mosaics Pinturicchio had seen in Rome. In the background, a small Flight into Egypt appears, flanked by two symmetrical trees, one of them a palm, a traditional symbol of martyrdom. This blend of domestic tenderness and allusions to a future sacrifice is what makes the painting compelling.

Painter

Pinturicchio

Date

1494

Medium

oil paint, panel

Dimensions

61 × 42 cm

Museum

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia County

Genre

religious art

Depicts

boy, Mary, aureola, woman, mother, Christ Child

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