The ''Madonna of the Rose Garden'' (Italian: ''Madonna del Roseto'') is an

International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by th ...

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

attributed to

Michelino da Besozzo Michelino Molinari da Besozzo (c. 1370 – c. 1455) was a notable fifteenth century Italian painter and illuminator, who was widely praised for his work. He worked mostly in Milan and Lombardy, and was employed by the Visconti family, rule ...

or Stefano da Verona. Dating to c. 1420–1435, it is now in the

Castelvecchio Museum Castelvecchio Museum (Italian: Museo Civico di Castelvecchio) is a museum in Verona, northern Italy, located in the eponymous medieval castle. Restoration by the architect Carlo Scarpa between 1959 and 1973 has enhanced the appearance of the bui ...

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, northern Italy.

Description

The

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on panel painting shows the traditional theme of the Madonna with Child within an enclosure of roses, a ''

hortus conclusus ''Hortus conclusus'' is a Latin term, meaning literally "enclosed garden". At their root, both of the words in ''hortus conclusus'' refer linguistically to enclosure. It describes a genre of garden that was enclosed as a practical concern, a majo ...

'', symbol of her virginity, in the presence of

St. Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, w ...

. The latter, as a princess, is crowned, and is accompanied by her martyrdom attribute of the torture wheel. There are also numerous slender angels. They are performing a series of activities: reading (a hint to the

religious text Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

s), collecting petals of rose, playing near a Gothic

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

(symbolizing the definition of Mary as ''Fons gratiae'', "Spring of Grace"). Two peacocks are roaming in the garden: they are a symbol of the immortality of Christ since early Christian times, when their flesh was considered not liable to rot. The work has been attributed to both Stefano da Verona or

, with more recent scholars tending to favor the latter.

References

Sources

*{{cite book, first=Stefano , last=Zuffi, title= Il Quattrocento, publisher= Electa, location=Milan, year=2004

Description

References

Sources

See also