The Madonna of Humility, the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Pietà

Bartolomeo Vivarini

ca. 1465 · Tempera and gold on wood · Robert Lehman Collection

The Vivarini were a family of Venetian painters whose prolific workshop specialized in large multi-tiered altarpieces for churches throughout the Veneto region. This relatively small triptych was likely intended for private devotion. The kneeling nun, dressed as a member of the Dominican Order, probably represents the patron. Bartolomeo’s debt to the Paduan master Andrea Mantegna is especially evident in the rendering of the landscape and the figure of the Madonna in the Nativity scene. Although the frame is not original, it conveys the decorative ornamentation typical of the Vivarini.

Artist

Bartolomeo Vivarini

Date

ca. 1465

Medium

Tempera and gold on wood

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975