Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary is a figure of great importance in Christianity, as she is the mother of Jesus Christ. Mary is often depicted in artworks, particularly from the medieval period onwards. These artworks show how Mary has been represented by different cultures and religions over time. The Metropolitan Museum has a number of artworks depicting the Virgin Mary, many of which are quite beautiful and highly venerated.

The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John

    Painted roughly a century after the other works in this gallery, Ter Brugghen's scene of Christ's crucifixion draws on the dramatic, emotional appeal of earlier religious art to inspire the private prayers of a Catholic viewer.
    The Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist, who flank the cross, provide surrogates for the viewer's agonized beholding of the crucifixion.

The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist

    This painting was commissioned by Giovanni Borgherini at a time when Florence had freed itself of Medici dominance.
    The painting shows John the Baptist passing the orb to Christ, indicating him as sole ruler of the city.
    In 1532, the Medici family was reinstated violently and permanently as its rulers.
   TITLE:
   ORIGINAL_TEXT:With this grandly solemn composition, Sarto demonstrated that he was, indeed, "the painter without defects," as Giorgio Vasari had deemed him
   His figures are masterfully drawn, beautifully colored, and composed with an air of nobility
   Giovanni Borgherini commissioned the picture at a time when Florence, having freed itself of Medici dominance, declared itself a republic
   The young John the Baptist - patron saint of Florence - passes the orb to Christ, indicating him as sole ruler of
   SUMMARY:
    This painting was commissioned by Giovanni Borgherini at a time when Florence had freed itself of Medici dominance.
    The painting shows John the Baptist passing the orb to Christ, indicating him as sole ruler of the city.
    In 1532, the Medici family was reinstated violently and permanently as its rulers.

The Immaculate Conception

    Reni, the most celebrated painter of seventeenth-century Italy, was particularly famous for the elegance of his compositions and the beauty and grace of his female heads, earning him the epithet "Divine."
    This altarpiece, with its otherworldly space shaped by clouds and putti in a high-keyed palette, was commissioned in about 1627 by the Spanish ambassador in Rome for the Infanta of Spain.
    It later hung in the cathedral of Seville, where it exercised a deep influence on Spanish painters, especially Murillo.

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.

The Dormition of the Virgin

    In 1601, Caravaggio was commissioned to paint an altarpiece representing the Dormition of the Virgin for Santa Maria della Scala, Rome.
    The Carmelite order rejected it, however, for a perceived lack of decorum, and it is today in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
    About 1608, Carlo Saraceni, a Venetian influenced by Caravaggio, painted this replacement that was also rejected.

The Crucifixion

    In this poignant image, the Crucifixion is presented as an enactment of the written word due to the inclusion of Saint Jerome.
    The Church Father is shown as somewhat detached from the event at hand, apparently reading about it from his translation of the Bible.
    True to the account of the Gospels, David has provided an appropriate sense of time and space.

The Adoration of the Magi

    This painting was done in Antwerp, Belgium.
    The painting was influenced by Gerard David's work.
    The painting is of the Adoration of the Magi.

The Adoration of the Magi