Madonna and Child

Luca di Tommè, a leading painter of the Sienese school in the second half of the fourteenth century, created this Madonna and Child around 1360. Working in the tradition established by the great Sienese masters Duccio and Simone Martini, Luca combined elegant line work with tender emotional expression in his devotional images. Now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this panel exemplifies the lyrical beauty of Sienese Gothic painting that persisted even as Florentine art moved toward greater naturalism.

Executed in egg tempera and gold leaf on panel, this Madonna and Child displays Luca di Tommè's refined Sienese draughtsmanship with sinuous contours and delicate modeling of the Virgin's face. The elaborate tooled gold ground with punch-work decoration is characteristic of the Sienese workshop tradition.