Madonna and Child is a magra-tempera on flax canvas painting by Andrea Mantegna, dating to 1490-1500 or (according to Mauro Lucco) 1463-1465 . Mauro Lucco (ed.), Mantegna a Mantova 1460-1506, exhibition catalogue, Skira Milano, 2006. It is now in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo.Catalogue entry It dates to after the painter's trip to Rome and belongs to a group of small-format Madonnas for private devotion - others include Madonna with Sleeping Child (Berlin), the Poldi Pezzoli Madonna and the Butler Madonna (New York). Tatjana Pauli, Mantegna, serie Art Book, Leonardo Arte, Milano 2001. The Bergamo work is unique among them in that it has a happy rather than melancholic atmosphere. The Christ Child wears a coral bracelet, formerly an apotropaic symbol and also a foreshadowing of his Passion. Ettore Camesasca, Mantegna, in AA.VV., Pittori del Rinascimento, Scala, Firenze 2007.

References