Madonna and Child with Queen Sancia, Saints, and Angels

Tino di Camaino

National Gallery of Art

Three women, a man, child, and four winged angels are carved in relief on a panel to occupy a shallow space in this white marble sculpture. The group fills the panel, which is square on the bottom and comes to a triangular point at the top. The people have narrow, almost slitted eyes, straight noses, and thin lips. One of the women, Mary, sits on a throne at the center holding a child, Jesus, who stands one of her knees. Mary wears a crown, and her robes drape to the floor. One hand wraps around Jesus’s torso. He holds something down by his side with one hand and reaches the other up with the first two fingers raised toward a woman, Queen Sancia, who kneels in the lower left corner of the panel. Mary reaches her other arm out to touch Queen Sancia’s head as well. The queen and others in the scene are smaller in scale than Mary. Queen Sancia faces our right in profile as she looks at Jesus with her arms crossed over her chest. She and the woman standing behind her both wear veils that cover their foreheads, chins, and necks. The standing woman touches Queen Sancia’s shoulder with one hand and holds the other to her own chest. A man standing on Mary’s other side, in the lower right corner, wears a hooded robe and holds a book and a cross. He has a beard, and his hair is cut into a ring around his head. Winged angels stand with hands held across their chests behind the man and Queen Sancia. Two more angels hold up a cloth behind Mary and Jesus. The edges of the panel are carved to resemble molding.