Giovanni antonio boltraffio paintings
Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio - National Gallery of Art...
Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, 'The Virgin and Child', probably about 1493-9
A grave, statuesque young woman gazes down at a positively enormous child, who lies sideways across her lap.
Giovanni antonio boltraffio paintings
Her deep red gown is open to reveal her breast, which she offers to her son – though he seems uninterested. He turns his head away from his mother to look out at the viewer, while playing with the beads which dangle from her scarf.
We know from their delicate haloes that these are the Virgin Mary and infant Christ, but this is a very modern Mary, painted in a newly realistic manner.
Boltraffio was Leonardo da Vinci’s most gifted pupil, and imitated his master in style and technique. The Virgin’s serene face, with her downcast eyes, wide mouth and broad, straight nose recalls Leonardo’s facial types, as in The Virgin with the Infant Saint John the Baptist adoring the Christ Child accompanied by an Angel, but is also informed by Boltraffio’s own studies of female heads (su