Full title | The Virgin and Child Enthroned |
---|---|
Artist | Giorgio Schiavone |
Artist dates | 1436/7 - 1504 |
Series | S. Niccolò Altarpiece, Padua |
Date made | probably about 1456-61 |
Medium and support | Tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 91.5 x 35 cm |
Inscription summary | Signed |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1860 |
Inventory number | NG630.1 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
The Virgin Mary sits on a grand throne, a chubby Christ Child balancing precariously on her knee. This is the central panel of a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) painted by Giorgio Schiavone, probably for the church of San Niccolò in Padua.
This altarpiece sits on the cusp of the shift in Italian painting from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and combines features of both periods. Although the background is gold, as was usual in medieval Italian painting, the Virgin sits on a classical marble throne decorated with carvings of putti (young boys in the persona of angels).
Christ rests one foot on an unusual glass ball with a pink string; four windows are reflected in it. This is perhaps an allusion to the globe sometimes held by the adult Christ in paintings, although it looks more like a bauble from a Christmas tree.
The Virgin Mary sits on a grand throne, a chubby Christ Child balancing precariously on her knee. This is the central panel of large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece). The rich green and pink of the Virgin’s clothes sets up links between panels – look at Saints Catherine and Sebastian – helping to unify the whole polyptych.
This altarpiece sits on the cusp of the shift in Italian painting from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and combines features of both periods. Although the background is gold, as was usual in medieval Italian painting, the Virgin sits on a classical marble throne decorated with bas-relief carvings of putti.
Like his contemporary Carlo Crivelli, Giorgio Schiavone was interested creating an illusion of three-dimensional space through light and shade and through experiments with linear perspective. Large pomegranates are balanced on top of the throne on either side of the Virgin’s head, their leaves curling forwards over the marble edge and casting shadows on it. The receding sides of the throne’s plinth make it seem to project forward, and the Virgin’s pink dress tumbles in crumpled folds over the front step. A giant apple balances next to this. Schiavone has carefully shaded one side of it, like a child learning to convey form by drawing a round object.
At the bottom, Schiavone has written ‘the work of Schiavone, Squarcione’s pupil’ in Latin on a cartellino, emphasising his position as a pupil of the Paduan painter. You can see how he has shaded the parchment to make it look as if it has been folded up and is creased and wrinkled. Next to the cartellino a fly walks up the step, a detail also used by Crivelli.
Christ rests one foot on an unusual glass ball with a pink string – perhaps an allusion to the globe sometimes held by the adult Christ in paintings (like Salvator Mundi), although it looks more like a bauble from a Christmas tree. The fragility of the glass might be a reminder of the transience of human life. His other foot is turned towards us, and Schiavone has used foreshortening – albeit not totally successfully – to convey how it appears compressed when seen from the front.
The Virgin’s fingers seem oddly boneless, giving her a weak hold on her son, and Schiavone doesn't seem to have completely understood the structure of the infant’s ankle. Many aspects of the artist’s style are derived from Squarcione: the marble throne, the garlands with ribbons, the outsized fruit, the putti and the slightly pop-eyed child with bulging cheeks, one leg facing to the front and one to the side. A number of artists who had passed through Squarcione’s school, such as Marco Zoppo and Cosimo Turo, also used these devices.
The panel seems to have been cut down at the top and may well have had an elaborate Gothic frame. The swag of leaves and fruit above the Virgin’s head now seems suspended in mid-air, but the sloping edges presumably emerged from underneath the edges of the frame.
Download a low-resolution copy of this image for personal use.
License and download a high-resolution image for reproductions up to A3 size from the National Gallery Picture Library.
License imageThis image is licensed for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons agreement.
Examples of non-commercial use are:
- Research, private study, or for internal circulation within an educational organisation (such as a school, college or university)
- Non-profit publications, personal websites, blogs, and social media
The image file is 800 pixels on the longest side.
As a charity, we depend upon the generosity of individuals to ensure the collection continues to engage and inspire. Help keep us free by making a donation today.
You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.
S. Niccolò Altarpiece, Padua
These ten panels once made up a polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) painted by Giorgio Schiavone, probably between 1456 and 1461. They were perhaps originally made for the chapel of the Frigimelina family in the church of San Niccolò in Padua.
In the fifteenth century the chapel may have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary, as she appears in the middle with saints on either side. We don‘t know exactly how the panels were arranged, but the full-length saints would have been in the bottom layer with the half-length figures above; this was a very popular format for Italian polyptychs. The altarpiece may well have had an elaborate frame, now missing.
The artist’s real name was Juraj Čulinović. Schiavone means ’Slavonian': he came from Dalmatia (in modern-day Croatia) but trained in Squarcione’s workshop in Padua in the late 1450s, when these panels were painted.
These ten panels once made up a polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece). The artist’s real name was Juraj Čulinović – Schiavone means ‘Slavonian’. He came from Dalmatia (in modern-day Croatia) but was an apprentice in Squarcione’s workshop in Padua in the late 1450s.
He has signed his name on a cartellino on the front of the Virgin’s throne: OPVS. SCLAVONI. DISIPVLI. / SQVARCIONI. S (‘the work of Sclavoni, Squarcione’s pupil’). He seems to have struggled a little with his Latin grammar: the third word originally read ‘discipulus’ but he corrected it to ‘discipuli’.
Schiavone’s style is similar to that of Carlo Crivelli in some ways – for example, his scattering of illusionistic fruits and flowers around his paintings. The way he painted, with gradually shaded variations of tone and no black outlines, and the solidity of his figures are closer to the style of his contemporary Andrea Mantegna, while his creased and crumpled draperies recall the paintings of Marco Zoppo. Both were also pupils of Squarcione.
The altarpiece was probably made for the chapel of the Frigimelinca family in the parish church of San Niccolò in Padua. In the middle of the sixteenth century the church had 11 altars, each belonging to an important local family. An eighteenth-century description states that there was once an ‘ancient altar’ in the Frigimelinca chapel which had been removed to the family’s palace; it apparently showed the Virgin and Child and saints in several panels and had the same inscription we see here.
The altar must have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary, as she appears enthroned in the middle. We don‘t know exactly how the panels were arranged, but the full-length saints would have been in the bottom layer with the half-length figures above. All would have been looking inwards at the Virgin and Christ Child in the centre. This was a very popular format for Italian polyptychs – look at the Demidoff Altarpiece by Crivelli. There may well have been an elaborate Gothic frame, now missing. Although the panels now have square tops, they may well have been cut down and have certainly been regilded, taking away any traces of the frame.
Saints were the heroes of the Middle Ages and those chosen would have been specially important to the commissioner. We see both ancient and modern saints, including one the patron might well have encountered personally: Saint Bernardino, who died in 1444, just before the altarpiece was made. With him in the lower level are Saints Anthony of Padua and Peter Martyr, both of whom lived in the Middle Ages, as well as the biblical John the Baptist. In the upper level are Saints Jerome, Catherine and Sebastian, as well as an female saint whose identity we don’t know. At the top of the altarpiece, above the Virgin and Child, there was an image of the body of Christ supported by two angels – together they represent the beginning and the end of the sacred story.
This is quite an academic altarpiece: the Franciscan Saint Anthony of Padua, the Dominican Saint Peter Martyr, Saint Jerome and Saint Catherine were all known for their scholarship. The interest in the Franciscan and Dominican Orders is typical of the period, although they were especially important in Padua where they were closely involved in the running of the university.










More paintings by Giorgio Schiavone









