Ask the Scholar
Page 1 of 1
I can add historical knowledge about this page.
Page image
Document source description
In this intimate image for a domestic interior, the Madonna is represented as a humble mother with her breast exposed, ready to nurse the Christ Child. She gazes downward with a melancholic expression, as if aware of her son's future death at the crucifixion. Around Christ's neck hangs a rosary punctuated with coral beads, linking the painted image with the personal prayers that would be said before it. . The painting is a characteristic work by Bernardino Zenale, one of the foremost artists in Milan at the turn of the 15th century. Active as an architect as well as a painter, Zenale trained in the workshop of Vincenzo Foppa (see Walters 37.706) and later became acquainted with Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Leonardo’s influence is visible in the Walters’ panel in the dark background which appears to envelop of the figures in a thick “sfumato” (Italian for “smoky”), a manner of shading in which lights and darks are invisibly blurred for atmospheric effect. See for comparison Zenale's signed Altarpiece with the Circumcision of Christ in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- d735d8fa3df5e63f
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 6924
- Core
- obj
- Type
- drawing
DTO data
{
"id": "6924",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.462",
"contentType": "drawing",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "Madonna and Child",
"description": "In this intimate image for a domestic interior, the Madonna is represented as a humble mother with her breast exposed, ready to nurse the Christ Child. She gazes downward with a melancholic expression, as if aware of her son's future death at the crucifixion. Around Christ's neck hangs a rosary punctuated with coral beads, linking the painted image with the personal prayers that would be said before it. . The painting is a characteristic work by Bernardino Zenale, one of the foremost artists in Milan at the turn of the 15th century. Active as an architect as well as a painter, Zenale trained in the workshop of Vincenzo Foppa (see Walters 37.706) and later became acquainted with Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Leonardo’s influence is visible in the Walters’ panel in the dark background which appears to envelop of the figures in a thick “sfumato” (Italian for “smoky”), a manner of shading in which lights and darks are invisibly blurred for atmospheric effect. See for comparison Zenale's signed Altarpiece with the Circumcision of Christ in the Louvre Museum, Paris.",
"provenance": "Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 227, as Bernardino Luini]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
"date": "ca. 1510 (Renaissance)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.462",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"genreSpecific": [
"Painting & Drawing",
"oil paintings (visual works)"
],
"iiifBase": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"pageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensions": [
{
"units": "cm",
"width": 40.3,
"height": 59,
"depth": 1
}
],
"dimensionsRaw": "Painted surface H including modern inserts on both sides: 15 7/8 x W: 23 1/4 x D: 3/8 in. (40.3 x 59 x 1 cm)"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "6924",
"label": "Madonna and Child",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "drawing",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.462"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "6924",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.462",
"contentType": "drawing",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "Madonna and Child",
"description": "In this intimate image for a domestic interior, the Madonna is represented as a humble mother with her breast exposed, ready to nurse the Christ Child. She gazes downward with a melancholic expression, as if aware of her son's future death at the crucifixion. Around Christ's neck hangs a rosary punctuated with coral beads, linking the painted image with the personal prayers that would be said before it. . The painting is a characteristic work by Bernardino Zenale, one of the foremost artists in Milan at the turn of the 15th century. Active as an architect as well as a painter, Zenale trained in the workshop of Vincenzo Foppa (see Walters 37.706) and later became acquainted with Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Leonardo’s influence is visible in the Walters’ panel in the dark background which appears to envelop of the figures in a thick “sfumato” (Italian for “smoky”), a manner of shading in which lights and darks are invisibly blurred for atmospheric effect. See for comparison Zenale's signed Altarpiece with the Circumcision of Christ in the Louvre Museum, Paris.",
"provenance": "Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 227, as Bernardino Luini]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
"date": "ca. 1510 (Renaissance)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.462",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"genreSpecific": [
"Painting & Drawing",
"oil paintings (visual works)"
],
"iiifBase": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"pageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensions": [
{
"units": "cm",
"width": 40.3,
"height": 59,
"depth": 1
}
],
"dimensionsRaw": "Painted surface H including modern inserts on both sides: 15 7/8 x W: 23 1/4 x D: 3/8 in. (40.3 x 59 x 1 cm)"
}
Document source extras
{
"med": "oil on wood panel",
"creator_ids": [
"2957"
],
"collection_ids": [
"REN"
],
"exhibition_ids": []
}
Page context
{
"seq": 1,
"pageIndex": 0,
"type": "photo",
"url": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/raw/PL7_37.462_Fnt_BW.jpg",
"mediaId": "d735d8fa3df5e63f"
}