Fra Filippo Lippi (Italy, circa 1406–1469), Madonna and Child, circa 1440, tempera on poplar panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.290.

Audio Description

This painting, titled Madonna and Child, was made around 1440 by the Italian artist Fra Filippo Lippi, who lived from about 1406 to 1469. It is a tempera painting on poplar panel. It is part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its accession number is 1939.1.290.

This painting, about 30 inches in height, shows the Virgin Mary in three-quarter length, framed by a scalloped niche reminiscent of Roman architecture and made of colored stones. She stands behind a low wall, on which sits the Christ Child. Mary’s head is slightly tilted to the left as she gazes directly at the viewer. With her left hand, she supports a pillow behind his back. Her right hand is placed delicately on his chest. He rests his right hand on her wrist and holds her ring finger with his left. A white turban covers her hair, with a diaphanous veil that drapes around her neck and is tucked into a belt at her waist. The belt and her pleated garment are pink, over which she wears a blue cloak with gold embroidery at the cuffs and lined with a light golden-brown fabric (that is visible were the cloak hangs open). The child’s head is covered with blond curls and he gazes downward with a thoughtful expression. White fabric is wrapped around his waist and hangs loosely. His right leg is extended and uncovered.

Label Copy

This painting, titled Madonna and Child, was made around 1440 by the Italian artist Fra Filippo Lippi, who lived from about 1406 to 1469. It is a tempera painting on poplar panel. It is part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its accession number is 1939.1.290.

Filippo Lippi was among the most important artists in Florence in the mid-fifteenth century; he was a crucial link between the generation of Fra Angelico and that of Botticelli. Here, Lippi depicts a monumental Madonna and Child, framed by an elaborate scalloped niche inspired by Roman architecture.

The Madonna and Child belonged to the Berlin State Museums until 1937, when it and another painting were traded with the preeminent old master art dealer Joseph Duveen for a portrait by Hans Holbein. Though it was (and is) relatively common for museums to sell artworks from their collections to acquire others, in 1930s Germany, this practice became enmeshed with Nazi ideology: some state museums sought to acquire works by prominent Germanic artists that had been sold abroad, and "repatriate" them to Germany at the expense of other areas of their collections.

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