The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Tempera and oil painting depicting the Virgin Mary holding her hands together in prayer and looking down at the baby Christ, both with light skin tones, rosy cheeks, and wavy blonde hair encircled by a gold halo. Christ holds open an orange book, pointing inside and looking up at Mary, who wears a dark blue hood resting at the top of her head and layering over her pink dress, which matches with the pink cloth Christ wears. Behind them rises blue sky, a rocky landscape with trees, and a few buildings.

Virgin and Child

c. 1490–1500

Pintoricchio

(Italian, c. 1454–1513)
Italy, late 15th Century
tempera and oil on wood
Framed: 75.5 x 60 x 11 cm (29 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 45.5 x 34.2 cm (17 15/16 x 13 7/16 in.)
The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection 1944.89
Location: 115 Manuscripts & Textiles

Description

Bernardino di Betto, called Pinturicchio, is said to have acquired his nickname ("little painter") because of his small stature, and used it to sign some of his paintings. Born in Perugia, the provincial capital of Umbria, he trained under local artists, eventually becoming a paid assistant of the painter Perugino. He is known to have assisted Perugino on his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and eventually established his own reputation as a respected artist. Many of his commissions were for churches and wealthy families in Umbria and elsewhere. Though the source of this painting is unknown, it was likely produced for a home or private chapel.
  • The painting has been subjected to numerous interventive conservation campaigns throughout its lifetime. This has included the thinning of the primary support, subsequent transfer, and cradling, as well as several aesthetic campaigns to reintegrate severely damaged areas primarily concentrated within the sky and the Madonna’s mantle. Although the painting is structurally stable, the painting was treated in 2022 to readdress areas of significant loss and abrasion through new approaches to inpainting. The treatment took into consideration an appropriate balance between the painting’s history and condition and adds to the painting’s life as an object, guided by the conservation history, technical investigation, and research into the artist’s intent, all within the context of other works by Pintoricchio.
  • (Duveen, and Kleinberger, 1915)
  • Catalogue of the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection : Bequest of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, 1944. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944. Reproduced: p. [11], Plate I, cat. no. 11; Mentioned: p. 26, cat. no. 11 archive.org
    Francis, Henry. "Paintings in the Prentiss Bequest." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 31, no. 6, pt. 1 (June 1944): 87-89. Mentioned: p. 87 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 402 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 1. European Paintings before 1500. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Reproduced: fig. 42, p. 118 - 120
    Miller, Michael J. "A Madonna and Child from Pintoricchio's Sienese Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 8 (1991): 326-59. Reproduced: cover, p. 327, 330-31, 340; Mentioned: p. 326-59 www.jstor.org
    Bé, Kenneth. "Conservation Treatment of the Pintoricchio Madonna and Child." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 8 (1991): 360-73. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 360-73 www.jstor.org
    "1991 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 6 (1992): 155-231. Mentioned: p. 186 www.jstor.org
    Ugolini, Stefano. La Cultura Peruginesca attorno alla Madonna del Feltro. Perugia: Fondazione Cassa Risparmio: Fabrizio Fabbri, 2016. Mentioned: p. 114; Reproduced: Tav. XVIII
    Ly, Juliana, Gerhard Lutz, Rebekkah C. Hart, and Cleveland Museum of Art. Pintoricchio Magnified: An Immersive Conservation Experience. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: Throughout
    Ly, Julianna and Alexander, Jane. “Pintoricchio Magnified: An Immersive Conservation Experience.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 3 (2025): 14-15. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14-15 archive.org
  • {{cite web|title=Virgin and Child|url=false|author=Pintoricchio|year=c. 1490–1500|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.89