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Madonna and Child

ca. 1480
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 606
Symbols of good and evil appear throughout this exquisitely rendered painting. While the apples and fly symbolize sin, the cucumber and goldfinch reference redemption and the soul. Flemish art may have inspired the precisely detailed style of this work, one of Crivelli’s most refined pictures. It also showcases his talent for visual tricks: viewers might be tempted to brush away the fly that appears to have landed on the painting. In the distance, the landscape is populated with turbaned figures, possibly Mamluks who in the 1480s controlled the holy city of Jerusalem.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Madonna and Child
  • Artist: Carlo Crivelli (Italian, Venice (?), active by 1457–died 1494/95 Ascoli Piceno)
  • Date: ca. 1480
  • Medium: Tempera and gold on wood
  • Dimensions: Overall 14 7/8 x 10 in. (37.8 x 25.4 cm); painted surface 14 3/8 x 9 1/4 in. (36.5 x 23.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Jules Bache Collection, 1949
  • Object Number: 49.7.5
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

Audio

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5068. Madonna and Child

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An Apostle, Carlo Crivelli Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
An Apostle
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Madonna and Child Enthroned, Carlo Crivelli Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Madonna and Child Enthroned
Carlo Crivelli
1472
Saint George, Carlo Crivelli Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground, transferred to Masonite
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Saint Dominic, Carlo Crivelli Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Saint Dominic
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Pietà, Carlo Crivelli Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Pietà
Carlo Crivelli
1476

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