Attributed to Michelino da Besozzo
Milan, ca. 1370 - ca. 1450
Madonna and Child, ca. 1428
Tempera with tooled gold leaf on wood panel.
Fashionable at the courts of Europe around 1400, the International Gothic style was traditional in its decorative elegance and progressive in its emergent naturalism. In Milan the leading artist of this style was Michelino da Besozzo, whose work is distinguished by its lyrical line and poignant characterizations. This panel is likely by a close follower and shows a favorite International Gothic subject, the Madonna of Humility, in which a Virgin of appealing human aspect sits upon a cushion or the ground.