Description
Painted by Simone Martini around 1326, Madonna and Child occupied the centre of a portable polyptych commissioned by the civic government of Siena. Mary supports the young Jesus, who leans towards her face and grasps her dark mantle with his hands. The inclination of their heads and the delicacy of their gestures create a sense of intimacy rarely achieved in the more solemn conventions of medieval painting. The gilded background and intricately decorated haloes affirm the figures' sacred character.
The painting is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, within the Robert Lehman Collection. Made in tempera on wood, it originally belonged to an altarpiece that could be moved between the residences of Sienese magistrates. Its elegant drawing, sophisticated colours and careful rendering of hands reveal Simone Martini's ability to unite spirituality, courtly refinement and human closeness within a devotional image.
