Andrea Previtali, 'The Virgin and Child with a Shoot of Olive', about 1515

The Virgin and Child sit on the edge of a wood between two sawn stumps of olive trees that resemble the arms of a throne. Shoots have grown from each stump and the Virgin bends the taller one towards Christ, who raises his hand as if to grasp it.

The Virgin and Child do not look at each other or the viewer but both focus on the olive branch, emphasising its importance. The olive is symbolic of peace and its vigorous regrowth may suggest the Resurrection, when Christ rose again from the dead. The Virgin’s thoughtful expression as she bends the branch towards her son and his eagerness to grasp it perhaps express their acceptance of his fate to die for the salvation of humanity.

A sawn tree with a new shoot is a symbol commonly found in images of the infant Christ or the Nativity and refers to a prophecy in Isaiah 11: 1: ‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.’ This is an Old Testament reference to Christ being born from the family tree of Jesse of Bethlehem, who was the father of King David. A ‘Jesse Tree’ is an image, in the form of a family tree, of all the ancestors of Christ. Previtali used sawn sprouting tree stumps with a similar symbolic meaning in the background of other paintings, including The Virgin and Child with a Tonsured Supplicant and Saint Catherine of about 1505–6.

Although some of the pigments in Previtali’s Virgin and Child with a Shoot of Olive have changed colour over time – the greens have probably darkened and the flesh now looks bleached – we gain a sense of his sophisticated approach to colour. The harmonious link between the auburn hair of the Virgin and Child, the yellow lining of the Virgin’s cloak and the red of her tunic, and the way their brilliance is enhanced by the blues and greens, is characteristic of Previtali’s best work. So is the mastery of aerial perspective in the receding lines of pale blue hills and mountains, which reflect the way that objects appear to change in the distance, losing their detail and contrast and appearing more blue.

The barely visible animal resting on the ground beneath the trees on the left is a curious feature. The creature is very dark and the pigment around it has also darkened, making it difficult to see clearly, but it appears to be either a cow or a donkey. It seems to have a cross on its back like the donkey that carried Christ into Jerusalem, suggesting that perhaps the Virgin and Child have broken their journey here.

Damage has affected the painting’s appearance. There are losses where the paint has blistered. Later retouching has discoloured and is most noticeable as darker patches in the ultramarine of the Virgin’s cloak and its yellow lining.