Alvise Vivarini, 'The Virgin and Child', about 1483

The Virgin supports the Christ Child on a cushion that rests on a stone ledge. He returns her affectionate gaze, pointing to his breast. His gesture might be intended to emphasise the importance of his body – the physical incarnation of God – which would be sacrificed on the Cross to save humankind.

The Virgin’s thick mantle, turned over at the edge to reveal its rich yellow lining, dominates the picture; its stiff fabric forms a rectangular opening around the Virgin’s face. This striking feature is a good example of Vivarini’s shift in the 1480s towards using stronger shapes in his paintings, formed by bold contrasts of light and shade – a testament to the influence of the work of Antonello da Messina, who was present in Venice from 1475. This approach to fabric recalls the Virgin and Child possibly by Antonello, also in the National Gallery’s collection.

The care taken to represent depth and volume also reflects Vivarini’s talent at creating fictive three-dimensional architectural settings for his large-scale altarpieces. This work is similar in style to Vivarini’s Virgin and Child Enthroned in the church of San Andrea, Barletta, which he signed and dated in 1483. Vivarini has signed this picture on a cartellino, which is unfurled on the right side of the ledge.

The three main elements of the setting show the impact of the devotional paintings made for domestic interiors by Giovanni Bellini, whose work had a strong impact on Vivarini. The dark green background behind the Virgin to the right reflects the (often green) hangings Bellini used to separate his holy figures from the landscape beyond. The inclusion of a section or slivers of landscape was also part of the formula used by Bellini and his workshop; here, Vivarini has contained a view of a vast landscape enclosed by tall mountains within a deep stone window frame. At one point in its history the view was overpainted with a different landscape, but this has been removed. The figures are separated from the viewer by a stone ledge – another device favoured by Bellini, but also frequently used in portraiture in this period.