From 1460 To 1485

The 15th century was a time of great change in the world of art. Gothic art gave way to the Renaissance, and artists began to explore new ways of representing the world around them. Innovations in technique and subject matter opened up new possibilities for artists, and the development of new artistic movements like humanism and naturalism began to reshape the way we think about art.

The Annunciation

    This painting is one of the largest surviving depictions of the Annunciation.
    The painting was most likely commissioned by Ferry de Clugny, whose family coat of arms - the two joined keys - decorates the carpet and stained-glass window.

Processional cross

    This object is a repository for a relic believed to be a fragment of the True Cross.
    It is thought to have been made for a convent of the Poor Clares, probably in Florence.
    It is an extraordinary example of Florentine Renaissance metalwork, incorporating within its silver-gilt frame a series of twenty silver plaques with nielloed scenes depicting the Passion of Christ and various saints.

Madonna and Child

    The Madonna and Child are shown in a contemporary Florentine palace.
    Through the window is an arcade with the armorial device of the wealthy Florentine banker Filippo Strozzi (three crescents).
    The background evokes the area around the Strozzi villa near Florence.
    A Black man can be seen on a bridge spearing fish and outside a house a Black woman performs domestic tasks.
    Enslaved people from sub-Saharan Africa began arriving in Florence through Portugal in the 1460s, and documents record the presence of enslaved people in Strozzi's household.
   The Madonna and Child are shown in a contemporary Florentine palace
   Through the window is an arcade with the armorial device of the wealthy Florentine banker Filippo Strozzi (three crescents)
   The background evokes the area around the Strozzi villa near Florence
   A Black man can be seen on a bridge spearing fish and outside a house a Black woman performs domestic tasks

A Benedictine Monk

    This man's robe and tonsured hair indicate that he is a Benedictine, but whether this is a portrait of a contemporary monk or an image of a saint is not clear.
    The panel was cut from a larger image, and unlike some of the donor portraits on display, this sitter gazes downward, creating a more contemplative mood.

Madonna and Child with Scroll

    Luca della Robbia is famous especially for having brought the glazed terracotta technique to sculpture.
    This quiet, monumental composition shows him at the height of his powers.
    The composition is best viewed from the right and must have been site specific.

Madonna and Child with Two Angels

    The painting is dated to the time of Rosselli's work in Rome, around the time of Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Signorelli.
    It was painted for a Florentine, as the background has a view of the Florence cathedral.
    It would have hung in a domestic interior, where it would have served as a focus for daily prayer and devotion.

Virgin and Child

    The composition of this small roundel of the Virgin suckling the Christ Child was very popular:it derives from a composition by Robert Campin that was disseminated through workshop patterns.
    Memling enriched the prototype by adding an extended wooded landscape.
    Roundels like this were often hung above the heads of beds, where they served as a blessing over a married couple or as a focus for personal prayer.

Madonna and Child