Adoration of the Christ Child
Filippino Lippi·1480
Historical Context
Adoration of the Christ Child (1480), at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, presents the scene of the Virgin's contemplative adoration of the newborn Christ as he lies upon the ground — a subject popularised by Bridget of Sweden's mystical visions of the Nativity. The convention of the Child placed on the bare earth rather than in the manger emphasised his incarnate humanity and the humility of his entry into the world. Lippi's early treatment of this subject, the same year as his National Gallery Virgin and Child with Saint John, shows him working simultaneously across several related devotional formats.
Technical Analysis
The figure of the Virgin bent in adoration over the Child creates a strong curving compositional gesture that Lippi counters with the horizontal form of the recumbent infant. The contrast between the Virgin's richly coloured robe and the plain ground on which the Child lies is a compositional and theological statement about the meeting of heaven and earth.
