Madonna and Child in a Landscape

Workshop of Giovanni Bellini

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the hips up, a woman sits facing our left as she cradles a child in her lap in this vertical painting. A ginger-brown parapet spanning the lower edge of the composition separates them from us, and they have pale skin. A lavender cloth is wrapped across the woman’s forehead under an ivory-white veil that covers her hair. A cobalt-blue mantle drapes over her head and wraps around her brick-red robe. The mantle is edged in gold, and an ivory cloth is tucked into the neckline of the robe. Her eyes and head are lowered slightly to look at the child, and she supports his bottom with her left hand, on our right. Her right hand curves delicately around his shoulders. The nude, chubby child is cradled so he faces our right. He has delicate features, blond hair, and he looks up to look at the woman with this lips parted. He rests one hand on his belly with the first two fingers raised, and he touches his chin with his other hand. Beyond the pair, a landscape is filled with grass, dark green shrubs, and tall trees. Hills climb to two distant, beige-colored hills streaked with dark brown and dotted with trees. A cluster of sage-green buildings stands on the hill to our left. Puffy clouds float in a dark azure-blue sky overhead. The brown stone parapet is inscribed in the lower center, “JOANNES BELLINVS.”