Virgin and Child

Artist Pseudo-Pier Francesco Fiorentino Italian, active circa 1445–1480

Dateafter 1445

MediumTempera and gold leaf on panel

Dimensions24 x 16 in. (61 x 40.6 cm)
Frame: 34 x 27 in. (86.4 x 68.6 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.154

On View

On view

Label TextDuring the fifteenth century on the Italian peninsula, Christian preachers and popular devotional texts encouraged the faithful, especially women and children, to pray before images of Christ and the Virgin, often hung high on the walls of domestic interiors such as bedrooms. This panel was designed for such private use.

Narrative details such as the goldfinch in Christ’s hands, a favorite pet among wealthy children in fifteenth-century Europe, would have added to the painting’s appeal. The bird is also a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice. According to legend, it plucked a bloody thorn from Christ’s brow, hence its red spotting.
[L. Humphrey, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceWith E. and A. Silberman Galleries, New York; sold to NCMA, 1952.Published ReferencesBernhard Berenson, Le Pitture Italiane del Rinascimento (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1936), 384-388.

W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 184.

Raimond van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, Vol. 13 (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1970), 440-442, illus. 440, 441.

Perri Lee Roberts, Corpus of Early Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections: The South, Vol. 3 (Athens, GA: Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 2009), discussed 670, illus. (b-w) 671.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Mary Duke Biddle Education Gallery, "The Light Aesthetic," September 1984–July 1985.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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