Madonna and Child 🎨 Benvenuto di Giovanni

Madonna and Child

Benvenuto di Giovanni

Italian, Siena 1436 - 1518

This resplendent and well-preserved panel portrays the Virgin handing the Christ Child a pomegranate, a symbol of the Resurrection.

The painting may once have belonged by Pope Pius II Piccolomini, whose coat of arms is said to have formerly appeared on the back of the panel. 

The acorns, clustered beneath the frame’s scroll console, may be a heraldic allusion to Pius II. 

The important tabernacle frame may be contemporary and original to the panel. The candelabra-decorated pilasters are characteristic of Sienese frames of the period. Date: ca. 1470

Medium:  Tempera on wood, gold ground

Dimensions:

Overall 27 3/4 x 18 1/8 in. (70.5 x 46 cm); painted surface 24 1/4 x 14 3/4 in. (61.6 x 37.5 cm)

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 956 

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/458994