Virgin and Child

Behind the Virgin's shoulders runs a faint golden arc, and if you look along it you can still make out zodiac signs on the left, Aquarius, Pisces, Sagittarius, Virgo. That band of the heavens has given the picture its nickname, the Madonna of the Zodiac. It is a strange thing to find around the Mother of God, and it points straight to where Cosimo Tura worked: the court of the Este dukes at Ferrara, a place fascinated by astrology and learned emblems. Tura was their painter for decades. The Christ Child here is asleep, and an inscription along the base asks Mary to wake her son, a gentle play on the sleep that looks ahead to his resurrection. The panel was made for private prayer, and nothing is known of its owners until the Italian state bought it in 1896.