Madonna with Sleeping Child (Mantegna)

Madonna with Sleeping Child
ArtistAndrea Mantegna
Year1465-1470
Mediumglue-tempera on canvas
Dimensions43 cm × 32 cm (17 in × 13 in)
LocationGemäldegalerie, Berlin

The Madonna with Sleeping Child is a glue-tempera on canvas painting measuring 43 cm by 32 cm. It was painted around 1465-1470 by Andrea Mantegna and is now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.[1][2]

Intended for private devotion, it dispenses with the two figures' usual haloes in favour of a more intimate, simple and tender approach. Mantegna draws on Donatello's motif of Mary's face touching the child, whilst they are both enveloped in a brocade mantle against a black background.

There is a dialogue about this painting in the novel Lampioon küßt Mädchen und kleine Birken by the German writer Manfred Hausmann.

References

  1. ^ (in Italian) Tatjana Pauli, Mantegna, serie Art Book, Leonardo Arte, Milano 2001. ISBN 9788883101878
  2. ^ "Maria mit dem schlafenden Kind". Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums). Retrieved 2024-04-22.