Antoniazzo Romano, Italian (Roman), c. 1430-1512 Virgin and Child with a Donor. c. 1480, tempera and gold leaf on wood The Edith A. and Percy S. Straus Collection 44.551 and Carlo Dolci, Italian (Florentine), 1616-1687 The Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist. c. 1635, oil on wood Gift of Herbert Godwin 46.23

(1) Which painter thinks more in terms of precise edges to his forms, and which allows his figures and objects to have softer contours, so that they seem to fade into the shadowed background? (2) Describe the quality and use of color in each painting: does one painting contain somewhat more intense colors than the other? (3) Does one painting have greater contrast in value (light and dark) than the other? How do these qualities of color and light/dark contrast affect the overall visual effect of the paintings? (4) Can you discern how the artist applied the paint to the support (wood panel in both cases)? Do you think any of the visual qualities you have described is related to the use of different media (tempera vs. oil)? Note also the use of gold in Romano’s painting.
What are the similarities and differences in composition in the two paintings? (1) How are the figures posed? Within a roughly similar pyramidal arrangement of figures. which composition employs more diagonal visual accents? Describe these. (2) How does each painter create the illusion of three-dimensional form and space? Is one painting relatively more “three-dimensional” than the other? How does the painter achieve this effect? (3) In which painting does the artist think of discrete, individual forms, and in which is there a greater “unity” of forms—i.e., so that the figures, limbs, etc. are more closely and dynamically intertwined with each other? (4) In which painting is the composition contained by the frame, and in which does it seem to extend beyond the borders of the frame? How does this affect our perception of the relation between ‘our” space—the viewer’s space—and the space of the picture?
Consider the figures on an emotional level. (1) How do the Virgin and Child relate to each other and to the viewer? You may focus on their poses; gestures, facial expressions, gazes, etc. (2) Note the figure of St. John the Baptist in Dolci’s painting: do you see any parallels in how it functions within the scene to the figure of the donor in Romano’s picture? (3) In general, how do these paintings compare to each other in their expressive; emotional content? Is one, relatively, more “restrained” and the other more intensely emotional than the other?