Madonna and Child 1307 - 1317

This Madonna and Child was made anonymously, with tempera and gold leaf on wood. The panel shows a reverent scene, but also a very material one. The deep gold background doesn’t just represent divinity, but the intense labor required to hammer gold into leaf, thin enough to be applied to the wooden surface. This painstaking process would have been undertaken by specialized artisans, and its prominence here speaks to the patron’s affluence. The artist would have worked collaboratively, perhaps within a workshop system governed by strict guild regulations. There's a sense of careful control in the way the paint has been applied, with smooth gradations of color building up the figures of the Virgin and Child. You can imagine the slow, repetitive gestures involved in this kind of picture-making, far removed from the swift gestural abstraction we often associate with high art. Recognizing the material and social conditions of its making allows us to appreciate the value and the values of this painting more fully.