School of the note of Italy, possibly Venice; XV century.

School of the note of Italy, possibly Venice; XV century.
"Madonna and Child".
Oil on panel.
It has Spanish frame of the eighteenth century.
Measurements: 25.5 x 19.5 cm; 45.5 x 39 cm (frame).
Before our eyes is presented a delicate representation of the Virgin and Child, executed in oil on panel, from the school of northern Italy, possibly Venice, and dated in the fifteenth century. The composition is organized in a foreground where Mary and the Child occupy a prominent place, framed by a golden background that, rather than suggesting a physical space, confers a spiritual and symbolic atmosphere, heir to the Byzantine traditions still in force in Venetian art of the early Renaissance.
The Virgin is depicted with a solemn serenity, which translates the ideal of purity and contemplation. Her inclined face transmits recollection and tenderness, while she directs her gaze towards the Child, lying peacefully on a light support. The body of the infant Jesus, softly modeled, is delineated with childlike grace. In his small hands he holds a bird, traditional symbol of the soul and, in particular, of sacrifice: in many representations, the bird, often a goldfinch, prefigures the Passion, alluding to the crown of thorns and the redemption to come.
The golden background enveloping the scene is not a simple decorative device. Its use in this context denotes the transcendence of the image, separating the earthly from the heavenly and referring to a timeless dimension. This technique, common in the Italian tradition before the full Renaissance, continued to have a strong devotional charge in religious contexts, especially in Venice, where the taste for the Byzantine endured more than in other Italian regions.
During the 15th century, the Northern Italian school, and in particular the Venetian school, played a fundamental role in the transition of international Gothic art towards the renovating languages of the Renaissance. Although Florence was the epicenter of technical innovations and the new pictorial humanism, northern Italy stood out for preserving certain traditional forms, such as the gilded background or the meticulous detail inherited from Gothic art, while subtly incorporating the new quests for volume, naturalism and depth.
The Venetian school, influenced by its contact with the Orient and the unique light of the lagoon, developed a particular sensitivity to color and atmosphere, which would later crystallize in artists such as Giovanni Bellini and, in the following century, in Titian. Works such as this Virgin and Child are evidence of a transitional stage: they maintain the symbolic and devotional values of medieval art, but already announce a concern for the human, for corporeality and intimate emotion, which would be central to Renaissance art.