Virgin and Child

The Master of the Straus Madonna, an anonymous Florentine painter active at the turn of the fifteenth century, created this intimate Virgin and Child panel around 1397. This anonymous master takes his name from a Madonna formerly in the Straus collection, and his graceful, refined style represents the transition from late Gothic to early Renaissance sensibilities in Florence. The tenderness between mother and child in such devotional panels reflected the growing emphasis on humanized religious emotion in late medieval spirituality.

Painted in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, the Virgin and Child display the Master's characteristic elegance with softly modeled flesh, flowing drapery, and delicate gold-tooled decoration. The intimate half-length format and gentle facial expressions reflect the emerging International Gothic aesthetic in Florentine painting.