Madonna col Bambino e santi

This small devotional picture comes out of the world of Andrea Mantegna, the sharp-lined court painter of the Gonzaga family in Mantua late in the 15th century. Against a plain black ground the infant Christ stands on a ledge holding a cross and a round orb, shown as ruler of the world, while the young John the Baptist points toward him with a scroll reading behold the Lamb of God. The hard, sculptural drawing is pure Mantegna, who loved to make paint look like carved stone. Its worn condition has left scholars cautious about calling it entirely his own hand rather than his workshop. It hangs today in the Petit Palais in Paris.