The Virgin and Child enthroned

Tura, Cosimo (ca. 1430-1495)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

mid-1470s

Height:

239.0 cm  (94 1/8 in.)

Width:

101.6 cm  (40 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil and egg on poplar

Description

In the foreground, a portative organ (one person on left depressing keys, person on right supplying wind). Two people seated on steps, both playing nine-stringed lutes. Two persons playing five-stringed fiddles. ---- From the National Gallery website: This is the central panel of an extraordinary altarpiece commissioned by the Roverella family for the church of San Giorgio in Ferrara. Looking up, worshipers would have been transported to the realm of the Virgin Mary, Christ, saints and angels. The bright, solid architecture and throne make it feel like we’re looking at a three-dimensional space. We‘re encouraged to imagine the sound of heavenly music – angels play stringed instruments and a miniature organ with swirling pipes (the front once bore an inscription, only a trace of which remains).

People as subjects

Jesus Christ
St. Mary (Blessed Virgin)

Iconclass

11F4213
Mary sitting or enthroned, the Christ-child in front of her, lying in her lap (or in front of her bosom), sometimes in Pietà-posture

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Portative organ [2267]
Lute [3394]
Fiddle [3142]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Haward, Lawrence. Music in painting (New Delhi: Isha Books, 2013) 8, plate 3. ISBN 9789332880566.

RIdIM record id

4527