Madonna of the Cherubim

The Madonna of the Cherubim is a panel painting dating from around 1485 by Andrea Mantegna, now held in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. For a long time it was attributed to Giovanni Bellini, partly because clumsy later retouching obscured the artist's hand; a restoration allowed Mantegna's authorship to be recognised and linked the work to early documents. Its original patron is uncertain: some scholars have suggested it was a gift to a friend of the painter, others a commission connected to the Gonzaga court of Mantua, but nothing is certain. An inventory of 1493 mentions a Madonna with seraphim that may be this panel. After Napoleonic requisitions it reached Brera in 1808.

The composition is restrained: Mary, seated and shown half-length, holds the nude Child on her lap. Behind them, against a clear sky, a choir of small winged heads, red-winged cherubim and blue-winged seraphim, sings. Mother and child do not meet each other's gaze, unusual for this kind of image, yet their closeness appears in tender gestures, such as the Child's arm around his mother's neck. The Virgin's melancholy expression suggests she senses her son's tragic fate, foreshadowing the Passion.

Painter

Andrea Mantegna

Date

1485

Medium

oil paint, panel

Dimensions

88 × 70 cm

Museum

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Genre

religious art

Depicts

angel, boy, Mary, mother, Christ Child

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