Virgin and Child, ca. 1500 – 1504

About the Work

By 1492 at the latest, this artist from Conegliano was working in Venice, where he made a study above all of the work of Giovanni Bellini. Rather like Bellini's "Sacra conversatione", Cima's composition in the Frankfurt collection was probably designed for a full-figure altarpiece including the portraits of the donors. The reduction to a half-figure format explains not only the slightly low-angle view of the representation, but also the circumstance that the gaze of the figures and the sign of blessing by the Infant Jesus are now directed into empty space.