Madonna of the Small Trees . Giovanni Bellini
1487
oil on panel
Height: 74 cm (29.1 in). Width: 58 cm (22.8 in).
Accademia of Venice
room XXIII
Accession number Cat. 596
Object history given by Girolamo Contarini
References Gallerie dell'Accademia (Venice)
Masters in art (online)
The Madonna of the Small Trees (Italian: Madonna degli Alberetti) is an oil on panel painting by Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini, executed in 1487. It is housed in the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo.
Stylistic elements, such as the division of the background, suggest that the work was based on Bellini's Alzano Madonna in the same museum.
Description
The background behind the Madonna and Child includes a hanging tapestry, a typical element of contemporary sacred conversations and which also appears in the Alzano Madonna. At the sides are two portions of landscape with two slender trees, whence the traditional name of the picture.
In the lower foreground, as usual in Bellini works, is a parapet in green marble with his signature.
See also
Madonna of the Red Cherubims
Sources
Olivari, Mariolina (2007). "Giovanni Bellini". Pittori del Rinascimento. Florence: Scala. ISBN 888117099X.
