Madonna and Child — Ancona
The Madonna and Child is signed by the artist on the front of the marble balustrade: “OPVS CAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI”. Its small size suggests that the work was commissioned for private devotion, leading to speculation about a connection with the Ferretti family. It has been hypothesised that the patron was Bernardino Ferretti, who had links with Crivelli on more than one occasion.
Carlo Crivelli created several works for the Ferretti family: the Vision of the Blessed Gabriele Ferretti for the church of San Francesco ad Alto in Ancona (now at the National Gallery, London); the panel in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, depicting the Madonna and Child between Saints Francis and Bernardino of Siena, with the small kneeling donor bearing the inscription “F B D A”; the St. Francis Collecting the Blood of Christ in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan; and another Madonna and Child preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Ancona panel still retains its original frame and shows at the centre a graceful Madonna holding the Child. The Virgin’s head is covered with a golden cloak decorated with red thistle motifs and edged with numerous white pearls, beneath which is a transparent veil revealing her brown hair. This fabric appears several times in Crivelli’s works, suggesting that it was fashionable at the time and that the painter may have owned one to use as a model.
In the painting, the gold is applied using the gouache gilding technique, in which a bolus is applied over the plaster and glue preparation to make the gold leaf adhere. Crivelli studies the light with great care: the illuminated parts of the cloak gleam, while the shaded areas are hatched with oil pigments. The Madonna wears a crown of pearls with a central red stone, demonstrating the artist’s mastery in rendering truthful details such as light reflections, even in such a small panel.
The Child looks towards his Mother while holding a string with a goldfinch tied to it in his left hand, symbolising the future Passion of Christ, while with the other he holds a small object identified as a shell with a mollusc still inside, an allegory of the Incarnation. The theme of the goldfinch tied to a string has recently been analysed and is thought to allude to a passage from Ecclesiastes and a verse from the Psalms, with the bound bird symbolising the bond between Jesus and his destiny.
The Baby Jesus wears a white tunic with long transparent sleeves, with a rectangular neckline enriched with gold and stones. Both figures have disc-shaped halos adorned with pearls and rubies. Crivelli renders the shaded part of the halos with continuous hatching in dark pigment, probably carbon black.
The Madonna and Child are placed behind a balustrade, on which rests part of the Virgin’s cloak and an open book, a detail already present in the Vision of Blessed Gabriele Ferretti for San Francesco ad Alto in Ancona. Behind the figures hangs a red drape of honour, probably made with red lacquer, suspended by red ribbons ending in gold tips. On either side are two festoons: apples, alluding to original sin, and a cucumber, symbolising the Resurrection of Christ. The background, finely painted, opens into a landscape meticulously rendered with slender shrubs reaching upward.
The back of the panel, published by Andrea Di Lorenzo in 2008 (and previously discussed by Cavalcaselle and Morelli, 1896; Jaynie Anderson, 2000; Giuseppe Marchini, 1960), shows a faux red porphyry decoration. At its centre is a cartouche affixed with four wax seals, inscribed: “IL PRESENTE QUADRETTO OPERA FIRMATA / DI CARLO CRIVELLI E’ STATO CONSE- / GNATO DAL PODESTA’ DI ANCONA AL / SOPRINTENDENTE ALLE ANTICHITA’ IL GIORGIO 20 LUGLIO 1929 VII IN / ANCONA”, followed by the signatures of Podestà Riccardo Motodere and Superintendent Giuseppe Morelli.
The painting is mentioned in the sacristy of the church of San Francesco ad Alto in Ancona by Marcello Oretti (1777), Otto Mundler (1858), and Cavalcaselle and Morelli (1861). After the suppression of the church, the small Madonna and Child was moved to its current location, the Pinacoteca Civica in Ancona.
Before the Ancona Madonna and Child, Crivelli created a very similar work, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Bache Collection). This larger panel bears the same signature, “OPUS KAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI”, but here it is written on a crumpled scroll applied to the fabric resting on the balustrade in the foreground, attached with red wax dots.
Carlo Crivelli
Madonna col Bambino
Inscrizioni: OPVS CAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI
Tempera su tavola, 21 x 15 cm
Pinacoteca Civica Francesco Podesti
Via Ciriaco Pizzecoli, 17, Ancona
Madonna and Child — Ancona
The Madonna and Child is signed by the artist on the front of the marble balustrade: “OPVS CAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI”. Its small size suggests that the work was commissioned for private devotion, leading to speculation about a connection with the Ferretti family. It has been hypothesised that the patron was Bernardino Ferretti, who had links with Crivelli on more than one occasion.
Carlo Crivelli created several works for the Ferretti family: the Vision of the Blessed Gabriele Ferretti for the church of San Francesco ad Alto in Ancona (now at the National Gallery, London); the panel in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, depicting the Madonna and Child between Saints Francis and Bernardino of Siena, with the small kneeling donor bearing the inscription “F B D A”; the St. Francis Collecting the Blood of Christ in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan; and another Madonna and Child preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Ancona panel still retains its original frame and shows at the centre a graceful Madonna holding the Child. The Virgin’s head is covered with a golden cloak decorated with red thistle motifs and edged with numerous white pearls, beneath which is a transparent veil revealing her brown hair. This fabric appears several times in Crivelli’s works, suggesting that it was fashionable at the time and that the painter may have owned one to use as a model.
In the painting, the gold is applied using the gouache gilding technique, in which a bolus is applied over the plaster and glue preparation to make the gold leaf adhere. Crivelli studies the light with great care: the illuminated parts of the cloak gleam, while the shaded areas are hatched with oil pigments. The Madonna wears a crown of pearls with a central red stone, demonstrating the artist’s mastery in rendering truthful details such as light reflections, even in such a small panel.
The Child looks towards his Mother while holding a string with a goldfinch tied to it in his left hand, symbolising the future Passion of Christ, while with the other he holds a small object identified as a shell with a mollusc still inside, an allegory of the Incarnation. The theme of the goldfinch tied to a string has recently been analysed and is thought to allude to a passage from Ecclesiastes and a verse from the Psalms, with the bound bird symbolising the bond between Jesus and his destiny.
The Baby Jesus wears a white tunic with long transparent sleeves, with a rectangular neckline enriched with gold and stones. Both figures have disc-shaped halos adorned with pearls and rubies. Crivelli renders the shaded part of the halos with continuous hatching in dark pigment, probably carbon black.
The Madonna and Child are placed behind a balustrade, on which rests part of the Virgin’s cloak and an open book, a detail already present in the Vision of Blessed Gabriele Ferretti for San Francesco ad Alto in Ancona. Behind the figures hangs a red drape of honour, probably made with red lacquer, suspended by red ribbons ending in gold tips. On either side are two festoons: apples, alluding to original sin, and a cucumber, symbolising the Resurrection of Christ. The background, finely painted, opens into a landscape meticulously rendered with slender shrubs reaching upward.
The back of the panel, published by Andrea Di Lorenzo in 2008 (and previously discussed by Cavalcaselle and Morelli, 1896; Jaynie Anderson, 2000; Giuseppe Marchini, 1960), shows a faux red porphyry decoration. At its centre is a cartouche affixed with four wax seals, inscribed: “IL PRESENTE QUADRETTO OPERA FIRMATA / DI CARLO CRIVELLI E’ STATO CONSE- / GNATO DAL PODESTA’ DI ANCONA AL / SOPRINTENDENTE ALLE ANTICHITA’ IL GIORGIO 20 LUGLIO 1929 VII IN / ANCONA”, followed by the signatures of Podestà Riccardo Motodere and Superintendent Giuseppe Morelli.
The painting is mentioned in the sacristy of the church of San Francesco ad Alto in Ancona by Marcello Oretti (1777), Otto Mundler (1858), and Cavalcaselle and Morelli (1861). After the suppression of the church, the small Madonna and Child was moved to its current location, the Pinacoteca Civica in Ancona.
Before the Ancona Madonna and Child, Crivelli created a very similar work, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Bache Collection). This larger panel bears the same signature, “OPUS KAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI”, but here it is written on a crumpled scroll applied to the fabric resting on the balustrade in the foreground, attached with red wax dots.