Piero dela Francesca Paintings
1416 - 1492 Italy, Early Renaissanse
Madonna of Senigallia, 1470
Panel, 24.02 x 21.06 inches [61 x 53.5 cm]
Public collection Religious Paintings
The painting - Madonna of Senigallia, originally in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Urbino, is quite different from Piero dela Francesca's previous production. The faces still have an expression of aloofness and of superior rational wisdom, but they also convey a sense of precious, almost exotic, beauty. This is one of the paintings in which Francesca most clearly reveals his interst in light values, both in terms of reflections and of magical transparencies. From Mary's veil, slightly puckered on her forehead with subtle light variations, to the coral necklace around the Child's neck, to the angels' shining pearls - these are all effects which, together with the light streaming in from the window, and forming a perfectly geometrical shape on the end wall, will appear again and again in Dutch painting of the 17th century.
The blond hair of the angel on the left, because of the reflection of the light Francesca put from behind, acquires an almost magical golden glow, as though it were a natural halo.
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