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Madonna of Humility
Madonna of Humility
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Madonna of Humility

Artist (Italian, about 1374–about 1438)
Dateabout 1430
Mediumegg tempera, oil, and gold leaf on panel
Dimensionspanel: 60.8 x 43.2 cm (23 15/16 x 17 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1912.63
Label TextThis painting has long been attributed to Stefano da Verona, who was active mostly in northern Italy and who was a proponent of the International Style. Popular throughout Europe toward the end of the fourteenth century, this style embodies a decorative elegance and an interest in minute detail that derive from northern European painting. Here the Virgin is portrayed as the Madonna of Humility: instead of being enthroned, she is seated on a cushion on the ground. In the sky above her appears God the Father with a scepter and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. The rose garden symbolizes the purity of the Virgin, while the music-making angels evoke the refined and grace-filled court life of the very end of the Middle Ages.ProvenanceCollection of C. Fairfax Murray, London, by 1894; Richard Norton, Cambridge, MA, after about 1904; purchased by the Worcester Art Museum, 1912.
On View
On view
Madonna of Humility
Caterino Veneziano
about 1380–1382
The Virgin and Child with Saints
Meo da Siena
1310–1315
The Last Judgement
Venetian
probably early 14th century
Saint Philip
Master of Figline
about 1335
Saint Francis of Assisi
Master of Figline
about 1335
Saint Bartholomew
Gonçal Peris
late 1430s
Christ Entering into Jerusalem
Pere Lembrí
about 1400–1421
Pieta
Master of the Academia Annunciation
about 1380
Adoration of the Kings
Puccio di Simone
1353–1360
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Lorenzo Leonbruno
1510–1535