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Seen from the lap up, a woman wearing a marine-blue robe over a crimson-red dress holds a nude baby boy on her lap in this vertical painting. Both people have smooth, pale, peachy skin. The woman sits with her body angled to our left and she looks down at or toward the baby. Her blond hair is pulled back with a blue ribbon or covering at the back of her head. She has delicately arching eyebrows, a long, straight nose, and her small pink lips are closed. The moss-green underside of her blue robe is visible where it turns back over her wrists and around her neck. Her red dress is edged with black along the squared neckline and tied at the waist with a black band. She supports the seated baby with her right hand, on our left, and holds her other hand at the ready near his legs. The baby sits angled to our right, toward the woman, but he turns to look over his shoulder to our left. His blond hair falls to a point over his forehead. He has delicate features with light brown eyes, a small, pointed nose, and a small, pink mouth. He also has pudgy, baby-like cheeks, tummy, arms, and legs. The horizon of the landscape behind the pair comes about three-quarters of the way up the panel, behind the woman’s shoulders. Hazy blue mountains, trees, and the suggestion of a town with buildings and a church spire line the horizon in the deep distance beneath a pale blue sky.

Pietro Perugino

Madonna and Child, c. 1500

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 20

Medium

oil on poplar panel

Dimensions

overall: 70.2 x 50 cm (27 5/8 x 19 11/16 in.)

framed: 88.9 x 69.9 x 8.3 cm (35 x 27 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1939.1.215

Artists / Makers

Pietro Perugino (painter) Umbrian, c. 1450 - 1523

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Possibly Marchesi of Villafranca, Italy. Marquès de la Romana, Madrid; by bequest to Marquès de Villamayor, Madrid; purchased by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York).[1] Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York, by 1926;[2] sold 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] The early provenance is according to a statement by the Marchesa de Villamayor (copy in NGA curatorial files).

[2] Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Clarence H. Mackay Collection. Italian Schools, New York, 1926: no. 8.

[3] Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:362-363. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1325.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Mackay, Clarence H.
Romana, Marqués de la
Villafranca, Marchesi
Villamayor, de, Marquès

Exhibition History

1983: Raphael and America, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983, no. 61, repro.

2004: Perugino: il divin pittore, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2004, no. 36, repro.

2014: Le Pérugin: Maître de Raphaël, Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, 2014-2015, no. 31, repro.

Bibliography

1926: Valentiner, Wilhelm R. The Clarence H. Mackay Collection. New York, 1926: 1, 5, no. 8, repro.

1929: Cortissoz, Royal. "The Clarence H. Mackay Collection." International Studio 94 (1929): 33.

1929: Singleton, Esther. Old World Masters in New World Collections. New York, 1929: 80-84.

1931: Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: pl. 248.

1932: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 437.

1933: Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.327.

1936: Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 376.

1941: Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 132, repro.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 149, no. 326.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 165.

1945: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 69, repro.

1954: Zeri, Federico. "Two Early Cinquecento Problems in South Italy." The Burlington Magazine 96, no. 614 (May 1954): 148.

1959: Camesasca, Ettore. Tutta la pittura del Perugino. Milan, 1959: 94-95.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 95, repro.

1961: Davies, Martin. National Gallery Catalogues. The Earlier Italian Schools. London, 1961: 13-14.

1965: Negri Arnoldi, Francesco. Perugino. I Maestri del colore. Milan, 1965: pl. 15.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 100.

1968: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:333.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 88, repro.

1968: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 99, fig. 239.

1969: Camesasca, Ettore. L’opera completa del Perugino. Milan, 1969: 105, cat. 79.

1970: Pope-Hennessy, John. Raphael. New York, 1970: 22.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 161, 645.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 262, repro.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:362-363; 2:pl. 261.

1983: Steinberg, Leo. The Sexuality of Christ in the Renaissance and in Modern Oblivion. New York, 1983: 79, fig. 85.

1984: Scarpellini, Pietro. Perugino. Milan, 1984: 48, 105, cat. 123, fig. 208.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 108, no. 79, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 303, repro.

1985: Moorman, Margaret. "Leo Steinberg and the Sexuality of Christ." Art News 84 (March 1985): 84.

1986: Russell, Francis. “Perugino and the Early Experiecne of Raphael.” Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986): 191.

1986: Tanzi, Marco. "Risarcimento dell'Aleni: Verifiche in margine ad una mostra." Bolletino d'Arte 71, nos. 37-38 (May-August 1986): 78.

1987: Ettlinger, Leopold D. and Helen S. Raphael. Oxford, 1987:29, 31, fig. 18.

1988: Rossi, Marco, and Alessandro Rovetta. Pittura in Alto Lario tra Quattro e Cinquecento. Milan, 1988: 34, 51.

1989: Todini, Filippo. La pittura umbra dal Duecento al primo Cinquecento. 2 vols. Milan, 1989: 1:273. 2:pl.1169.

1992: Brown, David Alan. "Raphael, Leonardo, and Perugino: Fame and Fortune in Florence." In Serafina Hager, ed. Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael in Renaissance Florence from 1500-1508. Washington, DC, 1992: 33, fig. 2.

1994: Kustodieva, Tatiana K. Italian Painting: Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries. Catalogue of Western European Painting / The Hermitage. Florence, 1994: 341.

1996: Meyer zur Capellen, Jürg. Raphael in Florence. London, 1996: 149, no. 88, repro.

1997: Abott, Katherine R. Smith. "Defining a Type: Perugino's Depictions of the Virgin Mary." In Joseph Antenucci Becherer, ed. Pietro Perugino: Master of the Italian Renaissance. Exh. cat., The Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, 1997: 62-63, fig. 20.

1997: Antenucci Becherer, Joseph. "Perugino in America: Masterpieces, Myths, and Mistaken Identities." In Joseph Antenucci Becherer, ed. Pietro Perugino: Master of the Italian Renaissance. Exh. cat., The Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, 1997: 114.

1997: Garibaldi, Vittoria. Perugino. Florence, 1997: 64, fig. 71.

1999: Garibaldi, Vittoria. Perugino: Catalogo completo. Florence, 1999: 134, no. 61.

2003: Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 562-564, color repro.

2003: Coonin, Victor Arnold. "The Interaction of Painting and Sculpture in the Art of Pietro Perugino." Artibus et Historiae 24, no. 47 (2003): 115, 119 n. 34, fig. 15.

2004: Mozzati, Tommaso. "Produzioni in serie, derivazioni e modelli: Perugino e la bottega di Andrea del Verrocchio." In Vittoria Garibaldi and Francesco Federico Mancini, eds. Perugino: il divin pittore. Exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2004: 103 n. 55.

2005: Proto Pisani, Rosanna Caterina, ed. Perugino a Firenze: Qualità e fortuna d’uno stile. Exh. cat. Cenacolo di Fuligno, Florence, 2005: 200, 202.

2023: Baldini, Nicoletta, Vittoria Garibaldi, and Francesco Federico Mancini, eds. ...al battesimo fu chiamato Pietro. Il Perugino a Città della Pieve. Exh. cat. Palazzo della Corgna, Città della Pieve, 2023: 132.

2023: Lovino, Orazio. “Perugino e il peruginismo a Napoli e nel regno.” In Marco Pierini and Veruska Picchiarelli, eds. Il meglio maestro d'Italia: Perugino nel suo tempo. Exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2023: 498.

2023: Picchiarelli, Veruska. “La lunga corsa del meglio maestro d’Italia. Perugino negli anni novanta del Quattrocento.” In Marco Pierini and Veruska Picchiarelli, eds. Il meglio maestro d'Italia: Perugino nel suo tempo. Exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2023: 323-324, fig. 15.

2023: Pierini, Marco, and Veruska Picchiarelli, eds. Il meglio maestro d'Italia: Perugino nel suo tempo. Exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2023: 458.

2023: Pierini, Marco. “El vostro Piectro Perugino, penctore in Firenza. Lineamente di un proflio biografico.” In Marco Pierini and Veruska Picchiarelli, eds. Il meglio maestro d'Italia: Perugino nel suo tempo. Exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2023: 40-41, figs. 5-6.

2023: Shaneyfelt, Sheri Francis. Painting in Renaissance Perugia: Perugino, Raphael, and their Circles. Cambridge, 2023: 32-33, fig. 1.15.