European Painting before 1900, Johnson Collection The Adoration of the Christ Child Predella panel from an altarpiece Made in Florence, Italy, EuropeAfter 1503 Workshop of Mariotto Albertinelli, Italian (active Florence), 1474 - 1515 Oil and gold on panel * Gallery 273, European Art 1500-1850, second floor Cat. 1168 John G. Johnson Collection, 1917 |
LabelThe Adoration of the Christ Child—in which the Virgin kneels in prayer before the newborn baby Jesus, often with the elderly Joseph seated on one side—was a popular subject in Florentine fifteenth-century painting. On a predella (the bottom section of an altarpiece), the scene would have been positioned in the center, below the depiction of the Virgin and Child in the main tier of the altarpiece. The episode of the Virgin’s Adoration of Christ, which does not appear in the gospel account of the Nativity, derives from Saint Bridget of Sweden’s fourteenth-century vision of the birth of Christ. This widely read account narrates how, with the newborn still naked on the ground, the Virgin knelt in worship.* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
