Luccan
Enthroned Madonna with Child, c. 1250–1260

The oldest picture in the museum marks the appearance of a new Madonna type which was to exert a sustained influence on succeeding generations of painters. You will frequently see Madonnas here in the museum which take up this new composition and add their own variations. What makes this picture pioneering is the sophisticated fusion of two Byzantine Madonna types, each with a long tradition: the standing Virgin, often shown only half-length, holding the Christ Child on her left arm (‘Hodegetria’), and the seated Madonna, shown presenting the Child frontally on her lap (‘Nikopoia’). Originally, the ‘Nikopoia’ (‘bringer of victory’) was a cult image carried into battle by the Late Roman emperor Justinian. This work, from the Italian city of Lucca, may also have been carried around as a cult image, albeit hardly in a war context, but rather in church processions.

Luccan
c. 1250–1260

Enthroned Madonna with Child
Canvas mounted on poplar, 104 x 63 cm
Acquired in 1968 as a loan from the Neven DuMont family, Cologne
Inv. no. WRM Dep. 0319
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln