Virgin and Child

religious

Stoical yet sad, Foppa's Virgin and Child betrays traces of Gothic intensity but the powerfully blocked out forms of mother and Child point to new developments initiated by Fra Filippo Lippi and followed by Piero della Francesca and Mantegna. Here Mary and Jesus take on the roles of the new, redemptive Adam and Eve, symbolized by the Virgin holding a fruit for her Son's taking.

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About the Artist

Vincenzo Foppa

1427 – 1515

Italian painter, the leading figure in Lombard painting until the arrival of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan in 1481/2. He was born and died in Brescia, but was active mainly in Milan. According to Vasari he obtained his training in Padua, and his robust style owed much to Mantegna, not least in his interest in perspective. His major works include frescos in S. Eustorgio, Milan, and Sta Maria del Carmine, Brescia.

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