The Manchester Madonna
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
Sizes
About this painting
The book is the one thing she will not hand him. The Gallery suggests it lies open at Isaiah 53, which prophesies the crucifixion, held from a child reaching to grasp it, as though she does not want him to discover his destiny. He balances one foot on a fold of her cloak; the Baptist steadies him.
The cloak is black; Michelangelo never gave it its coats of blue. The angels at the left got no further than the greenish underpaint flesh was to be painted over. The only colour they ever had was the colour meant to vanish.
Sources: The National Gallery, London, Michelangelo, 'The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels' ("The Manchester Madonna"), NG809. · James Hall, 'Michelangelo's Manchester Madonna and its Influence on Granacci and Raphael', The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 162, June 2020
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 2,918 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.