The exhibition "The essence of Christmas - Giovanni Bellini in Sondrio" will be inaugurated on Wednesday 7 December 2022 at Palazzo Sassi de'Lavizzari, headquarters of MVSA - Valtellinese Museum of History and Art at 17:30.

In the beautiful stüa of the Palazzo, the extraordinary work by Bellini will be exhibited, Madonna and Child, tempera on poplar panel dated to around 1455, on loan from the Civic Museums of the Municipality of Pavia.

Giovanni Bellini is considered one of the most important exponents of fifteenth-century painting in Venice and, together with his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna, one of the most significant painters in all of Northern Italy. In the work, the Madonna, half-length, with elongated and half-closed eyes, tenderly embraces a plump Baby Jesus standing on the windowsill, in the center of which is painted, in a scroll, the signature "IOANNES BELLINVS P".

The Madonna, half-length, with elongated and half-closed eyes, tenderly embraces a chubby Baby Jesus standing on the windowsill, in the center of which is painted, in a scroll, the signature "IOANNES BELLINVS P"; the Virgin's left hand is delicately placed on a small volume facing the viewer.

The two figures, with light skin tones and bright red robes, stand out and emerge from a dark, draped background, enlivened only by the presence of a damask border and a row of pearls intersecting the Madonna's halo, which conceals a blue sky above veiled by clouds.

The face of the Virgin, with a nasal bridge and angular cheeks, is framed by a short white pleated veil that emerges from under the dark mantle bordered by a band with gold-painted decorative motifs, also present on the cuffs. The draperies of the little Jesus' dress and of the Virgin's veil, adherent to the face, are "chipped and crumpled", the modeling is a bit woody, the very thin hatching that models the surfaces is delicate and successful. By simply using color and light, without resorting to perspective architectures or 'Leonardesque' nuances, Bellini manages to create an effect of profound spatiality.