Madonna and Child

Circle of Andrea Mantegna (Possibly Correggio)

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the lap up, a woman breastfeeds a baby against a dark background in this vertical painting. Both people have gold halos and pale skin. The woman sits to our left with her body angled to our right almost in profile. Her head tips forward, and she looks down from under thin brows. She a straight nose and a pointed chin, and her small pink lips are closed. Her light brown hair is parted down the middle and falls down her back. One curly lock lies over the shoulder closer to us. Her sage-green bodice has a straight neckline and muted blue sleeves. A white cloak falls from her far shoulder, across her back, and across her lap. She holds the baby’s shoulders with one hand, the middle finger lying delicately across one tiny shoulder and resting behind his ear. She braces his backside with the other. He feeds from her left breast, farther from us, with eyes nearly shut in upward-curving slits and upper lip rolled back. He touches her chest with one hand, and his other fist is tucked between their bodies. A piece of blue cloth stretches from her far shoulder to wrap around the back of his head and falls down his back. Their halos are gold filigree against the dark background.