The Adoration of the Child

Fra Bartolomeo was a Dominican friar and painter whose deep religious conviction informed his monumental devotional compositions. His close friendship with Raphael facilitated artistic exchange between Florence and Rome. This The Adoration of the Child was created around 1499 and is now held at the Galleria Borghese. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

Oil on panel with Fra Bartolomeo's characteristic soft atmospheric modeling and monumental figure treatment. The work demonstrates the artistic qualities characteristic of Fra Bartolomeo's mature period.