Description
The Manchester Madonna is an unfinished panel painting from about 1497, attributed to Michelangelo: the Virgin sits on a block of stone and holds a book away from the infant Christ, who reaches for it; beside them stands the young John the Baptist in a fur, and on the right two angels read a scroll. The original, tempera on panel, is 105 cm high and 77 cm wide and belongs to the National Gallery in London. One of our painters paints it for you by hand in oils on canvas, in six portrait sizes from 92 x 127 to 166 x 230 cm or made to measure, and before it leaves us you receive a photograph of the finished work.
| Title: | The Manchester Madonna |
| Other titles: | Madonna and Child with Saint John and Angels · Madonna di Manchester |
| Painter: | Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) |
| Year painted: | c. 1497 |
| Original size: | 105 cm x 77 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Tempera on panel |
| Painting style: | High Renaissance |
| Located at: | National Gallery, London, United Kingdom |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 6 sizes or made to measure |
The Manchester Madonna – Michelangelo
What does The Manchester Madonna show?
In the middle of the tall wooden panel the Virgin sits on a low block of stone. She wears a rose-red dress under a wide cloak that is dark on the outside and bright white where its lining folds across her lap. One breast is bare, as if she had just nursed her child. In her outstretched right hand she holds an open book.
The infant Christ, fair and curly-haired, is almost naked apart from a short, sheer little shirt. He stands at her knee, reaching for the book, one foot on the edge of the stone as if to climb into her lap. To his right the young John the Baptist, in a shaggy fur, is the only figure who looks straight out at us.
Behind them on the right stand two angels with golden curls, dressed in red and orange. One holds a scroll; the other leans on his shoulder and reads with him. The two angels on the left were left as grey-green outlines. Behind them is only plain sky over a strip of green ground.
What do the book, the scroll and the young John mean?
The scene comes not from the Bible but from a tradition that the Virgin and Child met Christ’s cousin, the infant John the Baptist, on the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt.
By tradition the Virgin’s book is open at chapter 53 of Isaiah, which probably foretells Christ’s sacrifice and his taking on of the evil of the world. So she holds it away from her son, who keeps reaching for it.
According to Wikipedia, the angels’ scroll is likely to read Ecce Agnus Dei, “Behold the Lamb of God”, words usually linked with John the Baptist. The bared breast recalls the medieval theme of the Virgin nursing the Child.
Why is this panel so unusual?
Only three panel paintings attributed to Michelangelo survive, and this is one of them. Michelangelo was above all a sculptor, the maker of the David and the Pietà, and here it shows: the figures stand side by side like a carved frieze in relief, which swells gently towards us at the centre.
As in relief sculpture, instead of the landscape usual for outdoor scenes there is only sky; he left out the richly decorated throne and played down the angels’ wings.
Most surprising of all, the work is unfinished. The Virgin’s cloak is black because it was meant to be covered with a rich blue made from lapis lazuli, and the angels on the left stayed in the green underpaint he used for flesh. For more, the English Wikipedia article on this panel covers its attribution and its unfinished state.
Where is the original, and where does the name come from?
The original belongs to the National Gallery in London, accession number NG809. It is painted in tempera, not oil.
It is dated to about 1497, during Michelangelo’s first period in Rome. The wider public first saw it in 1857 at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, which gave it its name.
For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries scholars doubted that it was by Michelangelo; today most agree that it is. The finished angel nearest the Virgin is close to a sketch the young Michelangelo made while he was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio.
The Manchester Madonna or another Michelangelo?
The Manchester Madonna is a canvas painting for anyone who loves Renaissance Madonnas and likes to see how a painting is made. It suits a bedroom, a book-lined study or a small chapel.
Another unfinished work from the same London collection is The Entombment, with the dead Christ carried upright. For the finished Holy Family in a round composition, see The Doni Tondo.
For the earliest painting attributed to Michelangelo, choose The Torment of Saint Anthony, where demons attack the old saint in mid-air; from the Sistine ceiling comes The Delphic Sibyl, a young seer with an open scroll. Our whole range of famous Michelangelo paintings is listed on the Michelangelo page.
How does our painter paint The Manchester Madonna?
The original is tempera on a wooden panel; ours is a hand-painted oil painting reproduction on canvas. We start only once you order, and work layer by layer.
First the painter draws every figure precisely, including the two unfinished angels on the left, because we paint the panel as the original stands today, unfinished parts included. The grey-green outlines, the black cloak without its blue and the pale, almost empty sky stay as they are.
Then he builds up the colour little by little: rosy skin, golden curls, red folds, John’s shaggy fur and the white of the cloak. In oils the darks gain depth, and under raking light the brushwork of this Michelangelo reproduction shows.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 92 x 127 or 105 x 145 cm for a bedroom, a hallway or above a chest of drawers, 120 x 160 or 130 x 185 cm above a sofa or in a dining room, and 151 x 200 or 166 x 230 cm for a tall wall or a stairwell.
We paint The Manchester Madonna in 6 portrait sizes (width x height): 92 x 127, 105 x 145, 120 x 160, 130 x 185, 151 x 200 and 166 x 230 cm. Every one is larger than the original, which measures 77 x 105 cm. The smallest, 92 x 127 cm, is 15 cm wider and 22 cm taller.
A frieze of figures needs width, so the faces read best in the larger sizes. As a painting for the living room it is most convincing at 120 x 160 or 130 x 185 cm. Hang it so that the Virgin’s face sits a little above eye level.
Can I have another size or a frame?
Yes. For other proportions we adapt the composition so that every figure stays whole, the unfinished left side included. Let us know what width and height your wall needs and we will quote a price and a date.
Your Madonna travels rolled, on a stretcher bar or ready framed; stretching and framing happen in our own workshop in Slovenia. The 3D app is where you try mouldings, and it does only that; a view of the Madonna on your own wall is a separate service.
A narrow gold moulding suits the pale sky and the red robes; a dark wood frame answers the dark cloak.
How long does it take, and how is it delivered?
From your confirmed order to dispatch takes 15 to 45 working days. Before we pack it, we send you a photograph of the finished painting; if you would like a change, we make it before it leaves. No customs duty applies when the Manchester Madonna ships within Slovenia or elsewhere in the EU, and every order is protected by our returns policy.
The Manchester Madonna makes a fine gift for a christening, a wedding or an anniversary, or for anyone who loves the Renaissance. Not sure which size would suit the new home? Then a wall art voucher lets the recipient decide.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At the National Gallery in London, under accession number NG809.
Which parts are unfinished?
The angels on the left are only grey-green underpaint, and the Virgin’s cloak stayed black, without its planned blue.
Is it a print?
No. Every hand-painted copy we make is worked with brush and oil paint on canvas, stroke by stroke.
How big is the original panel?
105 cm high and 77 cm wide; even our smallest size, 92 x 127 cm, is larger.
What are the angels on the right reading?
A scroll which, according to Wikipedia, probably reads Ecce Agnus Dei, Behold the Lamb of God.
Is it suitable for a bedroom?
Yes. The quiet family scene suits a bedroom, a nursery or a hallway.
Could the Madonna be painted to my own measurements?
We can. Give us the centimetres that fit your wall, and we will quote a price and a ready date.
How long will I wait for it?
15 to 45 working days, and the photograph of the finished painting reaches you before dispatch.
- Subject: the Virgin holds a book away from the infant Christ, beside the young John the Baptist; two angels read a scroll, two more are left unfinished.
- Original: c. 1497, tempera on panel, 105 x 77 cm, National Gallery, London; unfinished.
- Ours: painted by hand in oils on canvas, in 6 portrait sizes from 92 x 127 to 166 x 230 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: it takes its name from the 1857 exhibition in Manchester where it was first shown in public.
