The Virgin and Child

This painting belongs to a series of images, inspired by a sculpture by Donatello, that proliferated in 15th-century Florence. In keeping with the Renaissance revival of Classical antiquity, a fictive tabernacle composed of Ionic columns supporting an entablature frames the monumental figures. The artist employs linear perspective and foreshortening to achieve a sense of three-dimensionality, as seen in the shadow on the stone wall and the child’s extended foot. The downcast eyes of the figures indicate that this painting was probably placed high, perhaps over a door, to complete the illusion that the figures were projecting into the viewer’s space.