Giovanni Bellini'S Dudley Madonna - Antonio Mazzotta - Paul Holberton - broché - Monographie

The Virgin Mary rises up like a giant Tower of Babel in a close-up view, separated from us by a slender railing along which runs the painter's signature. The Virgin appears to be sitting on a marble slab, slightly raised, and her right shoulder is thrust forward to show us her nude son. Madonna and Child, also known as 'Dudley Madonna', was painted in c. 1508 by Giovanni Bellini (Venice, c. 1430-1516), one of the most celebrated of Italian artists. This book tells the story of the painting, its painter and its provenance - the journey from Bellini's 16th-century Venice to Dudley's 19th-century London - and the context in which it was created, and later collected. The painting was probably acquired in Bologna by John William Ward (1781-1833), who in 1827 became the 1st Earl of Dudley. He was described by his contemporaries as a cultured and educated man, but also, especially in his later years, tending to madness. The Dudley collection was one of the most outstanding in 19th-century Eng