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Piazzale della Pilotta, 15, Parma
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The table has as protagonists the Virgin holding baby Jesus in her arms and, at their feet and of smaller dimensions, four saints kneeling. The face of the Madonna has very delicate and elegant features, as well as the Saints, whose physiognomies are well characterized. Made by Beato Angelico between 1428 and 1430, the work has been deprived of its original carpentry and over time has undergone renovations that have compromised its integrity of reading: the space lacks definition, the Virgin and the saints seem almost floating on the gold background within a sort of niche without perspective. However, the solemn setting of the figures of Mary and the Child, the intense blue cloak that takes volume from the light and makes one perceive the plasticity and shape of the human figure, denote the great quality of the work, in which the novelties derived from the painting of Masaccio. More in line with Beato Angelico's own style is the gold decoration in the friezes, in the hems of the robes and in the thickly drawn motif of the precious fabric of the curtain with shades of red lacquer, the same used to give body to the fourteen seraphim graffiti in the line. of the frame. Purchased in Florence in 1786, the painting belongs to that group of masterpieces chosen by the Marquis Tacoli Canacci to increase the collection of Tuscan "primitives" of Duke Don Ferdinando and which constitute one of the oldest and most valuable nuclei of the artistic collections of the Pilotta Complex.
Title: Madonna of humility, Saints John the Baptist and Paul and the meeting of Saints Dominic and Francis; in the frame, Fourteen Seraphim
Author: Beato Angelico
Date: 1425-1430
Technique: Tempera and gold on wood
Displayed in: National Gallery
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