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Madonna and Child

Giovanni Bellini (Italian, Venetian, active by 1459died 1516). Madonna and Child, ca. 1470. Tempera, oil, and gold on wood; Framed: 31 x 26 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.81)

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Madonna and the Child by Giovanni Bellini was one of the most attractive paintings I encountered during my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; so I chose to talk about it. This painting was made during the Renaissance in 1470 in Venice. This painting was made during the renaissance, which was a time period referred to a cultural movement that began in the 14th century and continued till the 17th century in Italy during the late Middle Ages and later spread throughout the rest of Europe. During this period are going
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to hatch(open) new techniques in the paint(painting) and the frescoes, but also a new representation of the world, closer to the man and going away from the Holy Trinity, the religion and the glory of God having remained previously the only artistic themes. For that reason, many of the paintings have to do with Christianity and stories from the bible. The main story at this time is the moment when the Madonna bore Christ. This moment is part of the culture, because the church was in the middle of people live. We have a European background. I said European because it looks like the typical landscape of the period of time: lot of green, some mountains and a middle of nowhere, a church. The characters face expression gives us some information too. They are neutral Not sad, not happy, just evasive. The Madonna is looking at her son with an expression very tranquil. She is totally captivated by the child and he seems totally comfortable with his mother. He looks out at the viewer and show is comfortable state of mind. Bellini portrayed a relationship that seems detached between mother and child, a deathlike image of the Christ child and a sense of unhappiness and awkwardness inside his works. The details of the painting show off the beauty of the painting. The painting was made with mediums like Tempera, oil, and gold on wood .There are a foreground, middle ground and a back ground. From far we dont see any problem on the painting but when I came closer I saw that there are cracks in the painting that have not been covered or touched. In the foreground we have the Christ, because he is central to the idea of the painting. Then we have Madonna in middle ground and the church in the back ground. It seems like the artist wanted to shows the difference of importance of this three symbols. Bellini has painted Christ with a red skirt, a hat and girly hair. The baby also is illustrated in the way the baby grabs his mothers hand with a sad impression of his face, as if he is about to cry. While the childs other hand is raised in a way as if the baby is doing the peace sign with his hand. This might be for blessing people on Earth: Like to say that he is there to bring light and peace on earth.
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Madonna is portrayed as an unhappy woman who is scared of something, maybe she knows that her son will risk his life to save us. We can see that in the way she is holding him and cares for him. In the background, the artist is trying to show that Christ life is very modest, and that he came into the world to live to deal with evil, darkness, to save our life and not to be a rich man. The painting also looks like it is portrayed from over the edge of a balcony. Moreover, we can see that the Madonna and Christ mark a separation between rich people on the left who live in mansions and houses while there are those who live in the farms on the right. The artist did that to show the inequality between the class and that Christ is there to give his love and his peace to everybody regardless to the social class. The artist really wanted to tell a story and to show what people cant imagine by reading the Bible. So he took the decision to show it in a new perspective. I have chosen this painting, even if it is not the most famous because I like way the artist drew his painting. There are a lot of different details which captivated me when I was in the Museum. I enjoyed the small details the artist used to present the renaissance, as well as Madonna and Christ. Im Christian and I was happy to see another way to tell the story of Madonna and Christ. The table was standing on the wall without glass over it I think it is better because it allows the viewer to see all the details clearer without missing any of them. But I didnt really enjoy my visit in the museum. There were too much people. So I found the table online, found the location in the Museum and go straight to see it.

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Citation: -Metropolitan Museum http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2011/renaissance-venice