Giovanni Bellini´s Dudley Madonna

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.
The 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. Recognised as an important composition by Bellini in the early 20th century, for a hundred years until its sale at auction in 2010 this picture had hardly ever been seen. This book places the painting within Bellini´s career and development even though he was over 75 years old when he painted it. Bellini was extraordinarily sensitive to the new generation of High Renaissance artists, responding instantly to new ideas. The publication also discusses the earlier critical fortune of the painting, explaining how it was kept out of the limelight for so long when it is clearly an autograph Bellini.