''Madonna of Peace'' is an oil on panel painting by

Pinturicchio Pinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (, ; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter during the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his smal ...

, now in the

Pinacoteca Civica Padre Pietro Tacchi Venturi The Pinacoteca Civica Padre Pietro Tacchi Venturi is the civic art gallery of the town of San Severino Marche, region of Marche, Italy. Located at Via Salimbeni 39, it mainly displays sacred paintings from prior centuries. Structure The art galle ...

San Severino Marche San Severino Marche is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona and about southwest of Macerata. History From prehistory to Roman age The oldest remains of human pre ...

. It is one of the few authentically autographed works from the artist's early mature period. Cristina Acidini, 'Pintoricchio', in ''Pittori del Rinascimento'', Scala, Firenze 2004.

History

Liberato Bartelli gave this artwork to the Duomo in

. He was a native of the city and was then serving as

protonotary apostolic In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic (PA; Latin: ''protonotarius apostolicus'') is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pop ...

and canon of

Santa Maria in Trastevere The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere); en, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and ...

in Rome. At the end of 1488, he was made prior of the church in his home town of San Severino Marche. He seems to have commissioned the work to commemorate this event. Pinturicchio was then among a new generation of artists working in Rome and probably delivered the work around 1490. Pinturicchio used the painting's figure of the Madonna as a model for later autograph works such as '' Madonna with the Christ Child Reading'' (

North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that e ...

) and ''

Madonna with the Christ Child Writing The ''Madonna with the Christ Child Writing'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Pinturicchio, painted around 1494-1498 and housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the United States. The painting is derived from the '' Madonna of ...

'' (

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

), both datable to between 1494 and 1498. Other Madonnas derived from it (such as that in the Kress collection (now part of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

in Washington) are studio works.

Description and style

The painting, nearly unanimously praised by critics, shows the Madonna seated with the Baby Jesus in her lap. In his left hand, he holds a ''

globus cruciger The ''globus cruciger'' ( for, , Latin, cross-bearing orb), also known as "the orb and cross", is an orb surmounted by a cross. It has been a Christian symbol of authority since the Middle Ages, used on coins, in iconography, and with a sceptre ...

'', a cross-bearing orb that symbolizes his divine power over the earth. With his right hand, he gives

benediction A benediction (Latin: ''bene'', well + ''dicere'', to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the expositio ...

to the kneeling client below, who is represented in profile with detailed attention to its facial features (the brow furrows, veins, and the consistency of the loose hair). That detail reveals Pinturicchio's study of Flemish painting. The Baby Jesus is not semi-nude, as he is in Umbrian and Tuscan depictions contemporary with this painting. Instead, he has the clothing of a "little redeemer", with a rich

dalmatic The dalmatic is a long, wide-sleeved tunic, which serves as a liturgical vestment in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, United Methodist, and some other churches. When used, it is the proper vestment of a deacon at Mass, Holy Communion or other se ...

and a

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...

that come perhaps from the influence of Byzantine mosaics in Rome. To the sides, angels capture and direct the viewer's gaze. One looks at the viewer directly (like the so-called role of the "reveler", taken from sacred representations of Renaissance theater). The other angel reclines its head against Jesus' gesture of benediction. Their faces are an ideal of rarefied beauty, with studied inclination of head and gesture. The drapery is meticulously dedicate and rich with decorations that follow the tip of the brush, like the embroidered clothing of Jesus with its flashes of pearls set on the sleeves. The background has the look of Umbrian landscape paintings, with hills punctuated by human presence that, among the slender, leafy trees, fades into the distance, softened by haze. At the left, there is a natural

Roccoco Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

arch, a typical fantastical invention of the painter, that is reminiscent of the School of Ferrara. Under it, some knights and infantrymen pass, which is perhaps an allusion to the army of Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents. The figures in the first plan are monumental, yet fluid, (perhaps the influence of Florentine painting and

Antoniazzo Romano Antoniazzo Romano, born Antonio di Benedetto Aquilo degli Aquili (c. 1430 – c. 1510) was an Italian Early Renaissance painter, the leading figure of the Roman school during the latter part of the 15th century. He "made a speciality of rep ...

) and resplendent in bright colors and the profusion of gold finery. The halos, for example, are composed of punched gold that create a vibrant, dusty, and diffuse light, that lights up the painting as in elaborate gold filigree. Golden highlights are visible in the hair or clothes of people or the countryside, and above all the leafy foliage. The lunette shows Jesus giving an "eternal benediction" within a

mandorla A mandorla is an almond-shaped aureola, i.e. a frame that surrounds the totality of an iconographic figure. It is usually synonymous with '' vesica'', a lens shape. Mandorlas often surround the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in trad ...

of little angels, following a pattern of

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ear ...

References

{{Pinturicchio Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Pinturicchio 1490 paintings San Severino Marche