The Brera Madonna (Virgin and Child with Saints)
Brera Madonna — Piero della Francesca, c.1472-1474
Piero della Francesca, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Piero della Francesca's Brera Madonna (also known as the Senigallia Madonna or the Brera Altarpiece) is the defining work of High Renaissance composition in Italian painting — a large panel (approximately 248 by 170 cm) showing the Virgin and Child enthroned in an architectural space (a barrel-vaulted apse of exact perspective construction) surrounded by eight saints, four angels, and the donor Federico da Montefeltro kneeling in armour at the lower right. From the apex of the barrel vault hangs an ostrich egg — a symbol of the Virgin Birth (the ostrich egg hatches without the hen sitting on it, a medieval emblem of miraculous generation), precisely suspended above the Virgin's head at the mathematical centre of the composition. The painting is the summation of Piero's geometric and spatial programme: every element — the perspective construction, the figures' placement, the light falling from the left — is part of a single unified mathematical composition.
The Brera Madonna was probably painted for the church of San Bernardino degli Zoccolanti near Urbino — the church associated with Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, who is depicted kneeling in the painting in full armour. The ostrich egg was Federico's personal symbol (the Montefeltro device).
The Virgin and Child are depicted with a quality of absolute stillness — the Christ Child asleep (a Nativity type, indicating that this sleeping child will die and rise again) across the Virgin's lap. The sleeping Christ is simultaneously the newborn in the manger and the dead Christ of the Pietà.
The perspective construction of the apse is the most important element for understanding the painting: the barrel vault is drawn in exact one-point perspective, the vanishing point precisely behind the Virgin's head. Every line of the architecture converges on her — the whole architectural universe focuses on the Mother of God. Stand before the painting and trace the perspective lines; then look at the ostrich egg, hanging at the precise apex of the vanishing point.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Brera Madonna — Piero della Francesca, c.1472-1474. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The ostrich egg — Virgin Birth symbol at the apex. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The barrel-vaulted apse — perfect perspective construction. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Federico da Montefeltro kneeling — in full armour. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brera 28, Milan. Open Tuesday-Sunday; admission fee. One of the greatest art museums in Italy.