GUERCINO
(b. 1591, Cento, d. 1666, Bologna)

Madonna of the Swallow

1620
Oil on canvas, 120 x 88 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Aloft on clouds, the Virgin, Child, and archangel, bathed in Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, are like a vision. The swallow symbolizes rebirth; the white cloth on which the child sits, his future shroud.