CRIVELLI, Vittore
(b. ca. 1440, Venezia, d. 1501/2, Venezia)

Madonna and Child with Two Angels

1481-82
Tempera and gold on wood, 56 x 41 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This charming Madonna and Child employs some of the same pictorial devices used by Vittore's brother Carlo, building up the gold to create three-dimensional embellishments. The parapet is inscribed with Vittore's name and on it are placed a carnation (emblem of love), cherries (like the apple, symbol of original sin), and a devotional book. The Child holds a goldfinch, symbolic of the Passion of Jesus.