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Why is the virgin Mary so sad in this piece?

"It’s an expression that can be dead, unless we engage ourselves in it."

"It's an expression that can be dead, unless we engage ourselves in it."

Curator Keith Christiansen on "Madonna and Child," a painting by Berlinghiero.

Explore this object:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435658

Throughout 2013, The Metropolitan Museum of Art invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world. Each episode is interpreted by a Museum photographer.

Photography by Mark Morosse

Rights & Permissions
Consortium, Edward Barbieri, Director, 'I sat down under his shadow' by Edward C Bairstow © Oxford University Press 1925. All rights reserved. Recorded 1998 on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Deux-Elles Limited, DXL827

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Keith Christiansen
John Pope-Hennessy Chairman, Department of European Paintings

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A selection of prints by the artist candidly portrays women's experiences from literature and during periods of political oppression.
Jennifer Farrell
December 9, 2024
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Madonna and Child, Berlinghiero  Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Berlinghiero
possibly 1230s