Madonna and Child (1300), by Duccio di Buoninsegna

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has always been a big part of my life. When I was a child, my father took me there to see the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Temple of Dendur, and ornately carved sarcophagus. In high school and college I visited the Met to explore the many eras of global art for pelasure and for school. Today of the Met is my special place to be alone.



Madonna and Child (also known as the Stoclet Madonna or Stroganoff Madonna) is a panel painting by Italian medieval artist Duccio di Buoninsegna. Painted in tempera with gilding on wood panel around the year 1300, it depicts Mary, the mother of Jesus holding the infant Jesus. Including the engaged frame, the work measures 27.9 x 21 centimeters.

Duccio di Buoninsegna. (c. 1255-1260 – c. 1318-1319) was one of the most influential Italian artists of his time. Born in Siena, Tuscany, he worked mostly with pigment and egg tempera and like most of his contemporaries he painted religious subject matters.

Duccio di Buoninsegna's later works set the stage for the early Renaissance by endowing figures and objects with a physical and emotional dimension that, in retrospect, made earlier paintings seem mere images.

Madonna and Child, one of the signature works at the Metropolitan Museum is on view in Gallery 3 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s European Paintings Galleries.

More information about Madonna and Child can be found here on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website.