Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Giovanni di Niccolò Mansueti
Italian; 16th-century
Omaha, NE: Joslyn Art Museum
58%
Sacred Conversation — Madonna and Child with Saints and Donor. c1505. Tempera and oil on panel
This is presumably a depiction of a lull in the sacred conversation, because nearly everyone is looking away from each other. Only the donor at the lower left appears to be interacting with anyone else; he and the Christ child are sharing a look, but Mary is lost in thought. St. Catherine is reading her book (as she always does), the donor’s wife is looking straight past St. Catherine, and John the Baptist appears to be falling asleep. There is very little unity in this composition, and too much contrast. St. Catherine’s rich garments clash inharmoniously with the simple garb affected by the rest of the figures. In the “male” half of the panel, the figures lean towards each other in a tight triangle; in the “female” half their heads are lined up in a row. The cross in the distance is ambiguous: it might actually be a staff that St. John is holding. (WC, 2025)