Madonna and Child — Poggio di Bretta
The Diocesan Museum of Ascoli Piceno houses a small panel measuring 71 × 50 cm depicting a beautiful Madonna and Child, originally from the parish church of San Giovanni Battista in Poggio di Bretta, a hamlet of the same municipality.
The Ascoli painter and archaeologist Giulio Gabrielli, in a handwritten note from 1893, hypothesised that the panel from Poggio di Bretta had been cut out and formed the central part of a polyptych of which all trace has been lost. Indeed, the painting appears truncated below the Virgin’s knees and closely resembles the central compartments of works from the same period, such as the triptychs from Valle Castellana, preserved in the Municipal Art Gallery of that town.
Its attribution was questioned only by Luigi Serra in 1930, who assigned it to Pietro Alemanno. However, according to Pietro Zampetti, the quality of this panel is far too high to justify such an attribution, since Alemanno never, even in the Montefortino Triptych (considered his masterpiece), reached such artistic heights.
The Madonna sits on a throne of brown stone with small white spots, intended to simulate red porphyry. The throne ends in a tympanum, partly hidden by an ochre drape of honour decorated with black thistle motifs.
The Virgin wears a pink dress edged with white pearls and covered by a blue cloak with simple golden vegetal decorations. Her head is covered with a white fabric decorated in red lacquer, beneath which lies a transparent veil revealing her blonde hair.
The halos of the figures are flat and gilded with the gouache technique. The Virgin’s halo is outlined in red, while the Child’s halo is bordered in black. The Virgin also wears a golden crown enriched with painted precious stones, though its condition is poor, as parts of the gold have flaked away or been altered.
The Mother is depicted in prayer, her gentle gaze resting on the Child lying across her knees. Jesus wears a blue robe tied at the waist with numerous white bands and is shown playing with a branch bearing an apple — a symbol of original sin.
Notably, the green used for the Virgin’s cloak interior and for the fruit leaves is no longer intact. This is likely due to the use of malachite, a pigment derived from a granular mineral that is known to detach from the surface over time.
Stylistically, the painting dates to the early 1470s, perhaps even preceding the Sant’Emidio Polyptych. Its closest comparisons are with the Valle Castellana Triptychs and with Crivelli’s more minor works, in which he evidently employed a dual expressive register according to the commission and function of the work.
Carlo Crivelli
Madonna in trono con il Bambino, 1472 ca
Tempera su tavola, 71×50 cm
Museo Diocesano
Piazza Arringo, 10/B
Ascoli Piceno
Madonna and Child — Poggio di Bretta
The Diocesan Museum of Ascoli Piceno houses a small panel measuring 71 × 50 cm depicting a beautiful Madonna and Child, originally from the parish church of San Giovanni Battista in Poggio di Bretta, a hamlet of the same municipality.
The Ascoli painter and archaeologist Giulio Gabrielli, in a handwritten note from 1893, hypothesised that the panel from Poggio di Bretta had been cut out and formed the central part of a polyptych of which all trace has been lost. Indeed, the painting appears truncated below the Virgin’s knees and closely resembles the central compartments of works from the same period, such as the triptychs from Valle Castellana, preserved in the Municipal Art Gallery of that town.
Its attribution was questioned only by Luigi Serra in 1930, who assigned it to Pietro Alemanno. However, according to Pietro Zampetti, the quality of this panel is far too high to justify such an attribution, since Alemanno never, even in the Montefortino Triptych (considered his masterpiece), reached such artistic heights.
The Madonna sits on a throne of brown stone with small white spots, intended to simulate red porphyry. The throne ends in a tympanum, partly hidden by an ochre drape of honour decorated with black thistle motifs.
The Virgin wears a pink dress edged with white pearls and covered by a blue cloak with simple golden vegetal decorations. Her head is covered with a white fabric decorated in red lacquer, beneath which lies a transparent veil revealing her blonde hair.
The halos of the figures are flat and gilded with the gouache technique. The Virgin’s halo is outlined in red, while the Child’s halo is bordered in black. The Virgin also wears a golden crown enriched with painted precious stones, though its condition is poor, as parts of the gold have flaked away or been altered.
The Mother is depicted in prayer, her gentle gaze resting on the Child lying across her knees. Jesus wears a blue robe tied at the waist with numerous white bands and is shown playing with a branch bearing an apple — a symbol of original sin.
Notably, the green used for the Virgin’s cloak interior and for the fruit leaves is no longer intact. This is likely due to the use of malachite, a pigment derived from a granular mineral that is known to detach from the surface over time.
Stylistically, the painting dates to the early 1470s, perhaps even preceding the Sant’Emidio Polyptych. Its closest comparisons are with the Valle Castellana Triptychs and with Crivelli’s more minor works, in which he evidently employed a dual expressive register according to the commission and function of the work.
