Madonna and Child

Francesco Benaglio

National Gallery of Art

This painting depicts a woman holding a child. The woman is turned towards the left, and she looks down at the child in her lap. She has pale skin, reddish-brown hair, high, arched, eyebrows, and thin, slightly downturned lips. Her hair is put up above her head under a red and brown net with a thin veil hanging over her face. A golden halo is behind her head. Her clothes are ornate, in shades of gold and brown with a collar decorated with pearls and green gems. The child is nude except for a red necklace and red bracelets. They also have pale skin and brown hair, and they are looking up at the woman. The child rests on a green cushion and holds a light pink peach or apple in one hand, and there is a faint golden halo around their head. Next to the woman, on a white marbled surface, is a white bowl of light pink fruit. Behind her is a landscape of green fields, tree-lined, rocky hills, and a light blue body of water. The sky above is a gradient of blue, white towards the horizon and fading into dark blue at the top of the painting. Puffy white clouds drift across the top of the sky.