| Moretto’s painting "Madonna with Child and St Anthony" is an example of a special type of painting popular in the High Renaissance: a landscape format with half-length figures of saints, usually with the Virgin standing in the centre. This type developed from Giovanni Bellini’s still somewhat additively structured panels into Titian’s dialogue- like scenes between Mary and the saints, the type Moretto was probably following here. The small format suggests private use as a devotional image. The interior is dominated by a heavy, copper-coloured curtain that is still reminiscent of the baldachin motif in pictures of the Madonna enthroned. The red shades in St Anthony’s cloak and the Virgin’s dress were originally much stronger, meaning the colour scheme – which reveals the work’s Venetian origins – was consistent. |
 |
|
|
|
