Madonna with child, John the Baptist, and Saint Benedict

Painted in 1489 by the Italian Renaissance artist Cima da Conegliano, this oil-on-panel work brings together the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child with Saint John the Baptist and another saint in a religious habit. The painting is sometimes known with Saint Benedict as the third figure, but it has also been identified as Saint Francis of Assisi, so that identification should be treated with caution. An angel also appears among the figures, placing the scene within devotion rather than historical narrative. It is religious art in which the figures gather around the Mother and Child, a common arrangement in devotional painting of the period. Today it is held at the Petit Palais in Avignon, where it can be seen as an example of late fifteenth-century Italian painting preserved outside Italy. For a more precise reading of its composition and commission, specialist studies are the best guide.

Painter

Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano

Date

1489

Medium

oil paint, panel

Dimensions

65 × 91 cm

Museum

Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon

Genre

religious art

Depicts

angel, boy, Mary, John the Baptist, woman, Francis of Assisi, mother, Christ Child

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