Madonna and Child

This painting is the cut-down central panel of a triptych, or three-panel work, which would have included two “wings” in addition to this main image, as well as a predella below. The depiction of the Madonna and Child conforms to a well-known early fifteenth-century Sienese format: the Child is partly draped, supported in an almost standing position by the Madonna, who holds one of his feet as he reaches out to grasp her. While the delicacy of the features is typical of the Sienese style, the artist also brings other qualities to the painting: the solidity of the Child’s body (a more Florentine characteristic), the intimacy of his touch on Mary’s cheek, and the linear elegance of the drapery. There is about the painting a quiet tenderness, the more moving for its aura of austerity.