オレンジの木の聖母

Around 1495 Cima da Conegliano was building a reputation in Venice as the painter who brought the countryside of the mainland into the city's altarpieces. He came from Conegliano, a hill town north of the lagoon, and the landscapes behind his Madonnas have the clear, particular light of that region rather than a generic backdrop. Here the Virgin sits with the infant Christ between Saint Jerome and Saint Louis of Toulouse, and the tree that gives the picture its name rises just behind her. It is an orange, chosen on purpose: its white blossom stood for her purity and its fruit cast her as a new Eve. Behind the saints the rocks and the distant town are painted with the same care as the holy figures.