Pietro di Domenico da
Montepulciano (Italian, Marchigian,
active first quarter 15th century) Madonna and Child with Angels, Tempera
on wood, gold ground, The Metropolitan Museum of Art ■
This painting dates about 1420 and is notable for the refinement of its tooled
and freehand work on the gold ground. The picture alludes to the Madonna’s
humility (seated on grass); as Queen of Heaven (the angels tooled into the gold
background suspend a crown over her); and as the beloved enclosed in a garden.
She unveils her sleeping child—an allusion to his future sacrifice and death.
It is one of the finest works by Pietro di Domenico, who was active in the
region of the Marches. Exceptionally, the picture survives intact with its
original engaged frame decorated with a continuous flower pattern and the
artist's signature ■