Giovanni Bellini's The Madonna of the Meadow

Introduction

• Location: National Gallery, London
• Focus: Visual analysis tools
• Not covering: Iconography, symbolism, commission, political/social/economic context

Visual Analysis Focus

Scale

• Painting Size: Moderately sized, affects viewing distance
• Figures Scale: Female figure smaller than life-size, fills a third of the frame

Composition

• Pyramidal Structure: Clothing creates a pyramid, offering stability
• Intimacy: Child in lap contained within pyramidal shape
• Foreground Dominance: Female figure close to foreground, primary subject
• Landscape Framing: Horizontal bands in the landscape, framing figures
• Body Composition: Tilt of Virgin Mary's and Christ child's heads, echoing forms

Pictorial Space

• Illusion of Depth: Flat surface creating 3D illusion
• Atmospheric and Linear Perspective:
  • Sky: Rich blues becoming paler towards horizon
  • Mountains: Paler and bluer in distance
  • Plowed Field: Orthogonals suggesting depth, leading eye into space

Form

• Variety of Forms: Natural (trees, fields), Figurative (Madonna and Child), Built (architecture)
• Contour Lines: Used to separate forms and define space

Line

• Contour and Structural Lines: Separate forms and outline architecture

Color

• Rich Color Groups:
  • Blue: Virgin's mantle, sky, mountains
  • Red: Undergarment
  • Yellow: Flesh, fields, architecture
• Connection with Heaven: White in shawl and clouds

Light and Tone

• Light Source: From left, high in the sky
• Chiaroscuro: Creating 3D form with light and shadows
• Tone: Light and darkness in colors

Texture

• Variety of Textures:
  • Smooth: Flesh, cloth
  • Rough: Middle ground, pebbly surface
  • Featheriness: Leaves
• Material: Oil suited for texture depiction

Pattern

• Pattern in Natural Setting: Embroidery in robe, repetition of leaf and grass forms
• Conflict with Depth: Reminds the viewer of the 2D surface

Conclusion

• Visual analysis tools provide insight into the painting
• Art historians use these and other tools to discuss art