Madonna and Child, ca. 1480

Madonna and Child, ca. 1480
Carlo Crivelli (Italian, Venetian, active 1457–93)
Tempera and gold on wood; Overall 14 7/8 x 10 in. (37.8 x 25.4 cm); painted surface 14 3/8 x 9 1/4 in. (36.5 x 23.5 cm)
The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.5)

Painted in about 1480, this panel is one of the artist's most exquisite pictures and is almost perfectly preserved, demonstrating his love for enameled surfaces. Flemish painting may have inspired the remarkable precision of detail in the background. The apples and the fly are symbols of sin and evil and are opposed to the cucumber and the goldfinch, symbols of redemption.