WINTER 2010
INCARNATION
The Incarnation Initial (The Book of Kells)
Virgin and child (The Book of Kells)
Carpet page (The Book of Kells)
Mark as the lion (The Book of Kells)
The resurrection (Piero della Francesca)
The history of the true cross (Piero della Francesca)
The flagellation of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
The baptism of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
Madonna della Misericordia (Piero della Francesca)
Madonna del Parto (Piero della Francesca)
WINTER 2010
MADONNA DEL PARTO
Madonna del Parto. Piero della Franchesca. ca. 1459. Museo della Madonna del Parto, Monterchi.
The Madonna del Parto [Madonna of childbirth] is a fresco painting by Piero della Francesca. One historical account reports that Francesca completed the piece in seven days while in Sansepolcro for his mother's death [1459]. The painting features a liberal amount of blu oltremare, also known as ultramarinum [beyond the sea], obtained from imported lapis lazuli. Popular with Italian painters in the fourteenth and fifteenth centures, blu oltermare was also very expensive, at times exceeding gold in cost. Artists were sparing in their use of it, reserving the color for the robes of the Virgin Mary and the Christ child.
The motif of Madonna del Parto is one found in Tuscan art beginning in the 14th C. In these paintings, the Madonna usually stands alone and holds a closed book over her belly, signifying her embodiment of the incarnate word. Here Francesca reveals her within a pavillon, with two angels opening its panels. This opening is then mirrored in the panels of the Virgin Mary's robes. One interpretation describes the pavillon as representing the orginal Ark of the Covenant. In this context, the pregnant mother of Christ then becomes the vessel for the new covenant.
Madonna del Parto. Nardo Cione. ca. 1355-60. Museo Bandini, Fiesole.
