Madonna of the Pomegranate

Fra Angelico's Madonna of the Pomegranate takes its name from the fruit that the Christ Child holds, a symbol simultaneously of the Passion — its red seeds evoking the drops of blood shed at the Crucifixion — and of Resurrection and eternal life. Painted around 1426-1430, this work belongs to Fra Angelico's early period when he was developing his synthesis of Byzantine gold-ground tradition with Early Renaissance naturalism. The Madonna's face, with its serene gravity and gentle inwardness, establishes the type of the Florentine Dominican Virgin that Fra Angelico would refine over a long career, creating images of the Mother of God that balanced the humanity required by late medieval devotional practice with the transcendence appropriate to the Queen of Heaven.

The intimate devotional panel renders the Madonna and Child with Fra Angelico's luminous color and gentle modeling, the pomegranate prominently displayed as both naturalistic detail and theological symbol.