Madonna and Child

One art critic said "the grotesque decoration, athletic putti, and invented Roman coins or medals which comprise the exceptional background relate to Signorelli's antiquarian interests..."

Another critic described the painting as "great and profoundly original", and that "one not only gains intense satisfaction from the marvelous drawing of the gold decoration, with its intreccia of aggressive putti and scroll-work, but one realizes that the figures of the Madonna and Child maintain their due predominance by the unparalleled amplitude and simplicity of their forms". The color, too, with its suggestion of archaic and Byzantine originals"was in fact "one of the most daring and successful experiments in Italian art".

Signorelli produced many ornate "gold" works in his later career. This piece, which presents a richly colored, half-length portrait of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child on her lap, is presented against just such a decorative golden background. It was given as a gift to Signorelli's youngest daughter, Gabriella, on April 10, 1507. The two likely reasons for the gift was to either mark the series of family tragedies - including the deaths of Gabriella's brother Antonio and sister Felicia due to the plague in 1502, followed by the death of her mother in 1506 - or that it was a painted to commemorate the birth of one of Gabriella's three daughters. 

This oil and gold on wood  work of art is in  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City