Madonna and Child

Although from Cremona, Boccaccio Boccaccino spent considerable time in Venice: the manner in which the Virgin is posed before a cloth of honor with a distant landscape derives from works by Giovanni Bellini. This charming picture, in which the child tempts a goldfish with a cherry, dates from around 1506–18 (the goldfinch is symbolic of Christ's Passion).

Notes:
The painting is in good condition. The panel is thinned and backed with another panel. The original border remains on the vertical and bottom edges but the picture has been cut at the top, which may have been arched. The shadows at the right of the Virgin's mantle have suffered, and there is a large damage to her left knee. There is some rubbing in the thinly painted areas, such as the landscape, and multiple vertical splits have distorted the support.

(Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art)