Il Bambino Salvatore

This is a small, quiet devotional picture from around the middle of the 15th century, painted in tempera on canvas at a time when most such images were still done on wood panel. It shows the Christ child alone, standing and facing straight out, one hand raised in blessing, meant to be looked at up close in private prayer rather than hung in a church. Andrea Mantegna worked in northern Italy for the ruling Gonzaga family at Mantua, and he brought a hard, sculptural clarity to his figures, as if they had been carved. Even a child here is given that firm, statue-like weight. Pictures this size travelled easily, which is part of how it eventually crossed the Atlantic to a collection in Washington.