Madonna and Child

Barnaba da Modena, an Emilian painter who worked extensively in Genoa and Piedmont, painted this Madonna and Child around 1370 in a conservative Byzantine-influenced style that remained popular in the maritime republic of Genoa throughout the Trecento. While Florentine and Sienese painters were advancing toward greater naturalism, Barnaba maintained the hieratic frontality and iconic presence favored by Ligurian patrons who had strong ties to the Eastern Mediterranean. The painting is now in the Louvre.

Executed in tempera and gold on panel, the composition adheres to the traditional Byzantine Hodegetria format with the Virgin pointing to the Christ Child as the way of salvation. Barnaba's technique combines the rich gold ground and solemn frontality of Byzantine icon painting with touches of Gothic naturalism in the softened facial modeling and fluid drapery.