# Madonna and Child with Saints

**Unknown artist**  
c. 1490/1500  
oil on panel transferred first to canvas and then to wood  
overall: 75.5 × 50.8 cm (29 3/4 × 20 in.) framed: 115.57 × 88.27 × 16.51 cm (45 1/2 × 34 3/4 × 6 1/2 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1943.4.37. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.12135.html).

## About this work

An unrecorded artist painted this in about 1490/1500. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

The painting depicts three adults and a child. The central adult, a woman, holds the child securely to her chest. The woman has pale skin and a white cloth covering her head, and she is wearing a dark cloak over a red robe. The child has curly light brown hair and is unclothed, looking towards the left. A bald man with a white beard, wearing a red garment and holding a key is on the left. On the right, another woman wears a white headscarf and a dark garment, holding a red cross. The background is dark, highlighting the people and their attire. All four of them have thin halos around their heads.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil on panel.** Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Real size: about 30 × 20 in (76 × 51 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 15th century
- Subjects: Madonna and Child, Margaret, Peter
- Colour: ochre
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1365.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1365/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/madonna-and-child-with-saints-nga-12135).