Madonna and Child attributed to Adrien Ysenbrandt (Isenbrant).
~~~
I shall paint
God in the midst, Madonna and her babe,
Ringed by a bowery, flowery angel-brood,
Lilies and vestments and white faces, sweet
As puff on puff of grated orris-root
Fra Lippo Lippi by Robert Browning
This sixteenth-century painting titled Madonna and Child is attributed to Adrien Ysenbrandt (Isenbrant). (Oil on a panel). It was common practice for major artists, such as Isenbrandt, to paint only the major parts of his paintings, such as faces and the flesh parts of his figures. His faces and flesh areas are set apart by brown pigment. The background was then filled in by assistants. The end quality of a work depended largely on the quality of the execution and the competency of the assistants, leading to an uneven quality of his works. These assistants also painted, as this was common practice in those times, many versions of the “Madonna and Child”, that were then attributed to Isenbrandt, giving him the reputation of having had an enormous body of work.
The Blessed Virgin Mary has been one of the major subjects of Christian Art, Catholic Art and Western Art for many centuries. Literally hundreds of thousands of pieces of Marian art covering a range of Marian artistic topics have been produced, from masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli to humble peasant artists.
Half-length Madonnas are the form most frequently taken by painted icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church, where the subject matter is highly formulated so that each painting expresses one particular attribute of the “Mother of God”. Half-length paintings of the Madonna and Child are also common in Italian Renaissance painting, particularly in Venice
Pintoricchio Madonna and Child. The works of the Perugian Renaissance school are very similar; and paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna and a young Raphael may often be mistaken one for the other. In the execution of large frescoes, pupils and assistants had a large share in the work, either in enlarging the master’s sketch to the full-sized cartoon, in transferring the cartoon to the wall, or in painting backgrounds or accessories.
The earliest surviving image in a Western illuminated manuscript of the Madonna and Child comes from the Book of Kells – magnificently decorated in the style of Insular art, the drawing of the figures can only be described as rather crude compared to Byzantine work of the period.
Madonna Art. Madonna is a medieval Italian term for a noble or otherwise important woman, and has long been used commonly in reference to images of the Virgin Mary. These names signal both the increased importance of the Cult of the Virgin and the prominence of art in service to Marian devotion during the late medieval period. During the thirteenth century, especially, with the increasing influence of chivalry and aristocratic culture on poetry, song and the visual arts. Representations of the Madonna and Child often take the form of large altarpieces. They also occur as frescoes and apsidal mosaics.
The Adoring Madonna is a type popular during the Renaissance. These images, usually small and intended for personal devotion, show Mary kneeling in adoration of the Christ Child. Many such images were produced in glazed terracotta as well as paint.
Francia Madonna and Child with Saints Anthony and Francis. In Medieval examples the Madonna is often accompanied by angels who support the throne, or by rows of saints. In Renaissance painting, particularly High Renaissance painting, the saints may be grouped informally in a type of composition known as a Sacra conversazione.
The seated Madonna and Child is a style of image that became particularly popular during the 15th century in Florence and was imitated elsewhere. These representations are usually of a small size suitable for a small altar or domestic use. They usually show Mary holding the infant Jesus in an informal and maternal manner.
More images from the Huntington on this blog.
A few Madonna Illuminated Tiles and Two-Sided Tags remain.
