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MANTEGNA, Andrea: Virgin with Sleeping Child

🖼 Virgin with Sleeping Child, 1465-70
Tempera on canvas
43 × 32 cm
Berlin, Germany

Tender intimacy defines this composition: Mary cradles her peacefully sleeping infant, rendered with crystalline precision and soft modeling. Mantegna's revolutionary foreshortening and intimate domestic scene establish the devotional prototype that shaped Renaissance Marian imagery.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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