Arcadópolis
Madonna and Child
Artemisia Gentileschi, c. 1613–1614
What you see
The Virgin, seated on a wooden chair, fills the picture. She holds the Child on her lap, naked but for a white cloth, as he stretches his arm up to touch her chin. She bends her head toward him with half-closed eyes and brings one hand to her breast, as if about to nurse him. Their two heads, close together at the upper right, draw the eye.
The palette is limited and soft: the pink of the dress, the blue of the mantle falling to the left and pale skin lit from the left. Above the mother’s head floats a golden halo, drawn as a very thin ring. Watch for the bare feet peeking out beneath the dress and the light on the Child’s blond curls.
About Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi learned to paint in Rome, in the studio of her father Orazio, a follower of Caravaggio, from whom she took the strong contrasts of light and shadow. In 1616 she became the first woman admitted to the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in Florence, and later worked in Venice, London and Naples for nobles and kings. She painted above all heroines from the Bible and history with uncommon force and resolve; after centuries of neglect, she is today one of the most admired painters of the Baroque.
More by Artemisia Gentileschi
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