Madonna of Humility (Madonna dell'Umiltà)

Giovanni da Francia's Madonna of Humility (Madonna dell'Umiltà), painted around 1450 and now in the Rijksmuseum, represents a devotional type that had become one of the most beloved in Italian painting since Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi popularized it in the early fourteenth century. In this iconographic formula, the Virgin sits humbly on the ground rather than an elevated throne — emphasizing her accessibility and maternal tenderness rather than queenly authority. The Rijksmuseum holds this panel as representative of the devotional Madonna tradition across Northern Europe.

Tempera on panel with gold ground. The Virgin is shown seated low in the picture field, the Christ Child on her lap in a posture of tender engagement between mother and son. The gold ground is richly tooled with punched patterns around the halos.