Madonna and Child
Ugolino di Nerio·1315
Historical Context
This Madonna and Child by Ugolino di Nerio, dating to around 1315 and now in the Louvre, is by one of the most important followers of Duccio di Buoninsegna in early fourteenth-century Siena. Ugolino was among the principal artists who carried forward Duccio's legacy, and he received major commissions including a large altarpiece for the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence. This devotional panel reflects the intense Marian piety that made Madonna and Child images the most ubiquitous subject in Gothic Italian painting.
Technical Analysis
Executed in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, the painting exemplifies Ugolino's faithful continuation of Duccio's refined style with its elegant linearism and luminous color. The Madonna's gently tilted head and the Child's naturalistic gestures show the humanizing tendencies that distinguished the Sienese school from more rigid Byzantine prototypes.
