The Madonna of the Carnation

Bernardino Luini

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the lap up, a young woman sits facing us as she cradles a plump baby in her lap in this square painting. They both have pale, peachy skin and blond hair. They are softly lit from the upper left, and the background behind them is inky black. A sea-blue cloth drapes over the woman’s head and across her shoulders. Its top edge is rolled back slightly, revealing tendrils of long, wavy hair framing her face. A thin gold line creates a delicate halo around head. Her scarlet-red gown is gathered and belted high above the waist. A cobalt-blue mantle lined with pumpkin orange drapes down over her shoulders, the arm of her chair, and her lap. She tilts her head slightly to our left, and lowers her eyes to gaze at or toward the child. She holds his torso with her right hand, to our left, and rests her other hand across his ankles. The child wears a dove-gray tunic with rolled up sleeves. His short hair lies in flat swirls, and his chubby cheeks are tinged with pale pink. Clusters of short gold rays fan out from the top and sides of his head. He fingers the hem of his tunic with his left hand as he turns his upper body to his right, our left, to pluck a carnation with tan, spiky petals on a long, thin green stem with his other. This carnation and at least one other with a wine-red center is held in a wide, squat, cream-white vase decorated with fern-green scallops and leaves.