La Vierge et l'Enfant

Niccolo di Pietro Gerini was a leading Florentine painter of the late fourteenth century, whose conservative Giottesque style was enormously popular with religious patrons. This Virgin and Child, now in the Musee du Petit Palais, exemplifies the devotional panel type that formed the backbone of Florentine artistic production. Niccolo's prolific workshop supplied altarpieces and devotional images to churches and confraternities throughout Tuscany, maintaining traditional Florentine formulas well into the era of the International Gothic.

Tempera on gold-ground panel, displaying Niccolo di Pietro Gerini's characteristic clear, orderly style derived from the Giottesque tradition. The Madonna and Child are rendered with solid volumetric modeling, warm flesh tones, and carefully structured drapery folds in the traditional blue mantle over red robe.