Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Madonna and Child
Andrea del Sarto (Andrea d'Agnolo) Italian
Not on view
This richly colored and touching Madonna and Child was painted late in Sarto's career. It would have been an ideal devotional picture and could well have hung in the bedroom of a well-to-do Florentine. The scale and composition are more intimate than in the grand "Holy Family" displayed nearby. The child, about to nurse, is shown distracted by the viewer's presence, and his sudden twist activates the picture. The composition enjoyed considerable success, for Sarto and his workshop repeated it, with variations; one such variant is in the Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. The Galleria Palatina is one of several museums contained in the Palazzo Pitti.
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