Parmigianino’s The Madonna and Child Critique

During the 15th century, many advancement in the elements of art changed how a painter painted. To name a few, paintings with extensive usage of one-point perspective, greater sense of realism, unified composition, sense of mood, and more vibrant depth of colors are just some advancements made. A 16th century artist, Parmigianino demonstrated his ability as a painter in The Madonna and Child. In Parmigianino’s painting, we see vast difference and similarities from 15th century paintings, such as Mantegna’s The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John the Baptist. A significant difference can be seen in the depth of the palette Parmigianino used.

The richer colors provided by oil paint gives more depth to the figures. Therefore, figures appear more volumetric. The sense of realism grounds the Virgin and the Christ child to our universe, our world, not another as it was in the earlier paintings from early 14th and earlier centuries. A teacher who was lecturi...