The Virgin and Child

The pomegranate in the Virgin's hand was not part of the first design. Infrared images made at the National Gallery in London show that the hands of both figures started out in other positions, and that to fit the fruit in, the painter had to cover part of her blue mantle with red. A change that large, made once the work was well under way, was very likely asked for by the patron, and the pomegranate is a sign of Christ's Passion, so the request was about what the picture was for. The blue around it is high-grade ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli, the most expensive pigment a Venetian painter could buy. At about 91 centimetres tall this is the largest Virgin and Child Bellini made that was not part of an altarpiece, and it probably stood on a small altar in a private house.