Madonna and Child

With their faces gently pressed together, the interaction between the Virgin and Christ Child evokes a tender intimacy. This motif appears in numerous works by Sano di Pietro and his workshop (for example, in another painting in the Lehman Collection, 1975.1.39). The particular manner of concealing the Christ Child’s right cheek behind the Virgin’s face was probably inspired by a celebrated Madonna painted by the Sienese master Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena).
Sano was a popular and highly prolific Sienese painter and illuminator, whose workshop produced numerous devotional images of the Madonna and Child, frequently shown in bust-length. The close stylistic affinities between works attributed to Sano and the enigmatic Sienese artist known as the Osservanza Master may indicate that they represent a single artistic identity. It is also possible that the paintings attributed to the Osservanza Master are the product of a collaborative workshop to which these artists belonged.