Madonna and Child with Angels

Ferrarese 15th Century

National Gallery of Art

This painting depicts a woman with her hands clasped in prayer, a slight smile on her pale face. She has thin eyebrows, deep-set eyes, and a sloping nose. She wears a dark green shawl draped over her head and shoulders with ornate gold designs around the edge and hints of sheer fabric, and there is a large gold halo behind her head. Below the shawl she wears richly decorated robes with red and gold patterns. In front of her, in the bottom right corner of the painting, is a sleeping child with a golden halo, wrapped in a sheer textile. The child is adorned with a red necklace and red bracelets on each wrist. Near the bottom left corner are two more children with thin golden halos around their heads, one dressed in green and one in red, both with their hands together in front of their chests. To the right of the woman's shoulder is another child, this one in a green dress with bright red wings and a wide golden halo. All of these children have pale skin and blond hair like the woman. In the background, there is a river surrounded by pink mountains, green hills, and a castle-like structure on the left, all under a cloudy blue-gray sky.