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Madonna of Humility
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The Madonna is shown seated on the ground as she nurses the infant Christ in a style of depiction called the "Madonna (or Virgin) of Humility." This type of image shows Mary’s humility, or humilitas in Latin, sitting on the earth just with a cushion in contrast to her usual depiction with a throne. The virtue of humility was propagated especially by St. Francis of Assisi and found its way into painting since the 1350s in the wake of the Black Death.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineMadonna of Humility, late 1370s. Caterino Veneziano (Italian, active 1362–82). Tempera and gold on wood panel; framed: 91.5 x 70 x 4 cm (36 x 27 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.); unframed: 79.6 x 54.6 cm (31 5/16 x 21 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1963.500
