Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009270Virgin and Child with Saints
by Berlinghiero
Also known as: Triptych: The Madonna and Child with Saints
About the Artwork
This small altarpiece, intended for a domestic interior or private chapel, consists of three panels, allowing it to be folded and easily transported. Surrounding the Virgin and Child in the center are various saints. On the left is Saint Andrew crucified, with St. Francis and St. Paul below; on the right, Christ with the instruments of the Passion, and St. Stephen and St. Lawrence below. The long expressive lines that define the clothing and hands of the figures are typical of Byzantine painting, which spread from Constantinople to Italy in the Middle Ages. Berlinghiero is one of the earliest Italian painters known by name. He lived in Lucca, the most important artistic center in Tuscany before the rise of Siena and Florence. Berlinghiero headed a large, influential workshop that included his sons.
Inscriptions
Inscribed on central panel flanking Virgin: MP OV. On back of panel: XC IC HS NI
Provenance
(Theodore Bonjean, Paris, France) -1938: (Peter Matthiesen, Matthiesen Gallery, London, England) after 1938: Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), Brussels, Belgium Mme. Michele Stoclet, Barcelona, Spain June 30, 1965: (Sale: Sotherby's, London, June 30, 1965, no. 21) -1966: Rudolf J. Heinemann, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1966-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966). Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Berlinghiero (Italian, before 1242)
- Date
- c. 1230s
- Medium
- triptych (tabernacle); tempera and gold on poplar panel
- Dimensions
- Overall: 42.6 x 51.5 cm (16 3/4 x 20 1/4 in.); Center: 42.8 x 27 cm (16 7/8 x 10 5/8 in.); Left: 42.5 x 12.5 cm (16 3/4 x 4 15/16 in.); Right: 42.4 x 12 cm (16 11/16 x 4 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Medieval Art
- Credit line
- Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
- Accession no.
- 1966.237
More by Berlinghiero in museum collections
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009336
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009343
Christ in a Mandorla, with the instruments of the Passion, with St. Stephen and St. Lawrence below
Berlinghieroc. 1230s · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009370
Open-access museum record · AT-00009270
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