Skip Navigation

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels

Workshop of Bernardino Luini

European Art

The Christ Child is depicted holding a glass sphere, which identified him to Renaissance audiences as lux mundi, the light of the world. This painting is a replica, created in the workshop of Bernardino Luini, of the central section of Luini’s 1523 altarpiece in the Basilica of San Magno in Legnano (near Milan). It was common in Renaissance Italy for artists and their studios to produce copies of their celebrated works for private clients and churches.

Small incision marks (only visible when seen illuminated from one side, at an oblique angle) suggest that this composition was based on the same preparatory drawing as the original altarpiece.
MEDIUM Oil on poplar panel
  • Place Made: Italy
  • DATES mid–16th century
    DIMENSIONS 96 3/4 x 54 1/16 in. (245.7 x 137.3 cm) Frame: 106 1/2 x 69 x 6 1/2 in. (270.5 x 175.3 x 16.5 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 16.441
    CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by Martin Joost, Frank S. Jones, L. W. Lawrence, Dick S. Ramsay, John T. Underwood, Henry H. Benedict, Herman Stutzer, F. Healy, Horace J. Morse, Luke V. Lockwood, Henry L. Batterman, Edward C. Blum, Frank L. Babbott, William H. Crittenden, W.C. Courtney, Frederic B. Pratt, H. I. Pratt, Alfred T. White, E. LeGrand Beers, C. D. Pratt, C. J. Peabody, Wallace A. Putnam, and A. Augustus Healy
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Workshop of Bernardino Luini (Italian, Milanese School, circa 1480–1532). Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels, mid–16th century. Oil on poplar panel, 96 3/4 x 54 1/16 in. (245.7 x 137.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Martin Joost, Frank S. Jones, L. W. Lawrence, Dick S. Ramsay, John T. Underwood, Henry H. Benedict, Herman Stutzer, F. Healy, Horace J. Morse, Luke V. Lockwood, Henry L. Batterman, Edward C. Blum, Frank L. Babbott, William H. Crittenden, W.C. Courtney, Frederic B. Pratt, H. I. Pratt, Alfred T. White, E. LeGrand Beers, C. D. Pratt, C. J. Peabody, Wallace A. Putnam, and A. Augustus Healy, 16.441 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 16.441_SL3.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 16.441_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
    This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.