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Madonna and Child
Gherardo Starnina (Italian, c. 1360–before 1413)
c. 1400
- Medium
- oil and gilding on wood panel
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 80.5 x 53.5 x 5.5 cm (31 11/16 x 21 1/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 60.4 x 41.4 cm (23 3/4 x 16 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- Italy, Florence, active in Spain, late 14th-early 15th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Although Gherardo Starnina is regarded as one of the most important painters of his time in Florence, little is known about him. He probably studied with a well-regarded Florentine painter who made numerous frescoes. He is claimed to have participated in the painting of the frescoes in the Castellani Chapel in Santa Croce, Florence. Documents show that he worked extensively in Spain, specifically Toledo and Valencia, executing many panel paintings and frescoes there. Most of his known paintings are altarpieces, often illustrating scenes from the lives of the saints. Stylistically, Starnina drew from many sources, including the Late Gothic style he witnessed while in Spain, and he developed a uniquely independent, progressive manner. The lyrical grace of this Madonna and her Valencian-style crown owe much to his experience in Spain.
