Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels

This painting, titled Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels, is by Lippo Memmi and is of 1350.  It is 26 1/4 by 13 inches, and its medium is tempera on wood with a gold background.


This work of art immediately stood out to me not only because of its bright gold background, but also because it looked very familiar.  Even though I have never seen this specific painting before, the painting felt familiar because of my tour in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence this past summer. During that tour, our guide showed us many famous paintings of the Virgin Mary and Child and explained to us how she was painted differently over time.

As far as the context of this painting, it was produced at a time when churches would often commission famous artists to depict notable religious scenes from the Bible, like Madonna and Child.  That is one of the reasons why there are so many paintings of the Virgin Mary and Child accessible today.  There is not much information on the location of production for this painting other than that it was produced in Italy.

The central idea of this painting obviously revolves around the Virgin Mary and Child, in addition to John the Baptist and Francis of Assisi and other saints.  I believe the central message that Memmi is trying to convey is a sense of power within the Virgin Mary and her child.  Instead of looking down at baby Jesus as the Virgin often does in these types of paintings, the Virgin is looking outward, and has an almost stern and challenging look on her face.  Baby Jesus also inhibits an interesting look that isn't typically innocent or baby-like.

Many of the paintings of the time similar to this one, picturing the Virgin Mary and child as the central subject, would also have bright gold fresco backgrounds that represented spiritual nature and an eternal world (heaven).  The shape of the painting, with a pointed top, also represents heaven.  These elements, in addition to halos on top of the Virgin Mary and Jesus and relatively small Saints in comparison with the Virgin Mary and Jesus, reinforce an idea of holy and undisputed power.
Ideas of holy and spiritual power were highly relevant at the time of this painting due to a religiously dominated society where churches held both large amounts of money and therefore power. This is indicated partially through the use of a gold fresco, an expensive material of the time that only commissioners of money, like churches, could afford.  However, I believe that this artwork becomes especially interesting when you compare it with similar artworks of slightly later times.  In the 14th century and in years beforehand, the Virgin Mary and Child were usually drawn as two-deminsional figures with gold fresco to accompany them, like in this painting.  This shows how the Virgin Mary and Child were seen as holy and possessed power above all others.  However, the ensuing centuries saw the renaissance and paintings of the Virgin Mary and Child as much more realistic figures, where they were painted three-diminsional and appeared in more every day-like settings.  This shows perhaps the influence that science and philosophy had on religion, in the sense that the Virgin Mary and Jesus were depicted as more human-like.

In a brief examination, this might appear as just another standard painting of the Virgin Mary and Child.  However, the context of the painting reveals the value 14th century European societies put on religion and how the depiction of that value through artwork changed over time.