Virgin and Child
Artist: Unnown
11th Century
Mosaic
The mosaic is in the apse of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, the almost deserted island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon, dates back to the 11th century
Virgin and Child Enthroned
Artist: Cimabue
1290-1300
Painting
Cimabue painted several versions of the Virgin and Child enthroned (also known the Maestà ("majesty")). The image is set against a gold background that symbolizes the divine light and suggests an otherworldly dimension in which the scene occurs. Seated on a lavish throne, the Virgin holds Christ on her lap, with eight angels holding up the throne. Their halos are decorated using punches (tools used to create indentations) for gemstones. The Virgin gestures toward her son with her right hand thus following the Byzantine model of the Virgin Hodegetria, indicating that Christ will lead the way to salvation.
This work of tempera on panel is in The Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
Select Pages
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212