Round paintings (tondi) were popular in Renaissance Florence. This one has a precariously balanced composition
- appropriate for
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The Virgin & Child are shown in a marble niche or throne. Two angels look on from behind. The pilasters have Corinthian capitals. It has been suggested that the picture, which is dated 1461, was painted in Bologna where the artist settled in about 1459.A ...

Curtains have been parted to reveal the Virgin & Child & two angels. One of the angels holds a lily, a traditional symbol of the Virgin's purity. The panel has been cut down, probably on all sides. Both Leonardo & Perugino began their careers worki ...

The Virgin is seated before a cloth of honour. The angels look on from behind a curtain. The Virgin holds a spray of red carnations, a symbol of the death of Christ; the infant Christ takes one from her. His nakedness emphasises his humanity. In the past t ...

This small 13th-century panel painting shows the Virgin & Child embracing, a common motif in Byzantine & early Italian art. The inscription on the background is MP OY which stands for 'MHTHP OEOY'
- ' Mother of God' in Greek. Sadly, the painting was stolen from the Gallery in 1970. In the Middle Ages, the Virgin was worshipped almost as fervently as Christ himself. She was seen as the Saint most ready to intercede on behalf of a repentant individual, & to beg forgiveness for their sins. Paintings on panel, such as this one, became increasingly popular in the 13th century as objects of private contemplation. Some were given the status of icons
- the objects themselves, not merely the subjects they depicted, were believed to have religious importance. Sculptures & paintings were occasionally reported to perform miracles (such as a statue of Mary that wept tears of blood). This panel is thought to have been one half of a diptych
- one of a pair of paintings hinged together that could be folded shut like a book. They were often decorated on the outside, & this panel is painted with a cross, ornamented with triangles & circles on the back. The other half of the diptych is thought to be a painting of Christ on the Cross.


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The lavish use of mordant gilding is characteristic of Bergognone, in whose work the mordant (the adhesive to which the gold leaf is attached) is applied in thick relief. The painting is likely to be an early work influenced by Vincenzo Foppa, then one of the most esteemed painters in Lombardy. Bernardino was the chief assistant to his brother Ambrogio Bergognone, one of the leading artists in Milan when Leonardo arrived there in 1482. ...

This is usually accepted as a late work by Liberale da Verona, made after his definitive return to his native city in 1492 thereabouts. A work made for private devotion, it probably dates from the first decades of the 16th century. The slightly open mouth ...

In this late work, the saints are not securely identified. Francia repeated this composition, with some variation, on other occasions; the saints could easily be changed into others without causing any damage to the central view of the Virgin & Child. ...

This painting & ' The Donor & Saint Mary Magdalene' were originally the wings of an altarpiece. Here the Virgin is supported by Saint John the Evangelist. The focus of her anguish was presumably the figure of Christ in the lost central panel of the alt ...

The painting shows Mary appearing to receive rays emanating from the Holy Spirit (in the form of a Dove) as she receives the news from the Angel Gabriel that she will give birth to the Son of God (Luke 1: 26-38). This work is probably one of a pair of pan ...