In Madonna and Child (Lippi), how is the Description discussed?
The Uffizi Madonna is associated with the taste of the new age, as the Madonna is “lovelier and more fashionable than any of Filippo’s earlier Madonnas”.
The group of Madonna and Child is, unusually for the period, placed in front of an open window beyond which is a landscape inspired to Flemish painting. The Madonna sits on a chair, at the window of a house located on a hilltop, which offers a view of an elaborate landscape of “plains, distant mountains, a city and a bay”. Her eyes are pointed down and her hands are folded in prayers before child Jesus, who is held up to her by two angels. She is wearing an elaborate coiffure with a soft veil and pearls: these elements, along with her costume, represent the elegance of the mid-1400s and were re-used in numerous late 15th century works in Florence.
Furthermore, as in many Renaissance paintings, the Madonna's hair is shaved farther back because, “the forehead [was] an object of special beauty” that resembled “a glowing, beautifully set pearl”.
This Madonna resembles other Madonnas from the same artist. For example, it is closely related to Fra Filippo's Pitti tondo Madonna, but it lacks “the pathetic girlish loveliness” of the Pitti tondo and rather has “a more womanly and mature type of beauty”.The angel on the right is one of the most curious parts of the painting: he is looking at the viewer with a “roguish smile, more expressive of mischief than of seraphic perfection”. His pose does not resemble that of an angel, and he does not seem to be playing his part, rather he seems to be the real child.
Madonna Florence right Uffizi Renaissance child Jesus Flemish painting