Cima da Conegliano
Madonna and Child in a Landscapecirca 1496-1499

Not on view

Oil painting, seated woman in red dress and blue mantle with gold halo holds a nude infant on her lap, before an open landscape with hills, a hilltop town, and blue sky

Oil painting in an ornate gilded frame with carved acanthus decoration. A seated woman in a red dress and blue mantle holds a standing nude infant before an Italian landscape with buildings, trees, and cloudy sky.

Oil painting of a haloed woman in red robe and blue veil holding a haloed infant, both depicted against a landscape with hilltop buildings and cloudy sky; smooth modeling and fine detail characteristic of Italian Renaissance panel painting.

Oil painting detail, an adult hand with a decorated cuff cradling the bare feet and legs of a standing infant, against deep blue and red drapery with smooth, refined brushwork.

Detail of an oil painting showing deep blue and crimson drapery beside a marble column, with a reddish-brown stone ledge in the foreground inscribed with the Latin text "IOANNE S BAPTISTA · P ·" in serif capitals.

Artist or Maker: Cima da Conegliano
Italy, Conegliano, circa 1459-1517
Title: Madonna and Child in a Landscape
Date Made: circa 1496-1499
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: Panel: 28 3/4 × 23 3/8 in. (73.03 × 59.37 cm) Framed: 44 × 40 × 5 1/2 in. (111.76 × 101.6 × 13.97 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation in memory of Robert H. Ahmanson
Accession Number: M.2008.9
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Cima da Conegliano ranks among the most important painters of the Renaissance in Venice. A painter of religious subjects, notably of numerous representations of the Madonna and Child, Cima occupies a key position between the influential Bellini family and the world of Giorgione and Titian. Following the example of both Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini, Cima painted moving images of the Madonna and Child in compositions remarkable for their hieratic presence.

Departing from the paintings of the Bellini and their workshop, which were based on Byzantine models, Cima's compositions are full of life and naturalism evidenced in the poetic landscapes he uses as backgrounds. A sublime example of the artist's production in the last decade of the 15th century, the painting shows the Mother watching carefully over the Child precariously balanced over her lap. In the background, a small hill town may be the painter's own hometown of Conegliano, and to the left are featured scenes from the life of Mary including the Flight into Egypt, and the Visitation.

Works by Cima - a painter well represented in all major museums - are extremely rare to find. The rediscovery of this painting, hidden for many years in a private German collection was hailed as a major event in the art world.
Provenance: Purchased in England at the end of the 19th century. William Egmont Bieber, London, from at least the 1920s.(1) Wilhelm Ernst Schramm, Hamburg, to; Johann Gottfried Schramm (1894–1982), Hamburg,(2) by descent. Anonymous (sale, New York, Christie’s, 19 Apr. 2007, lot 64, sold to); [Adam Williams Fine Arts Ltd., New York, sold 2008 to]; LACMA.
Footnotes
(1) William Egmont Bieber may be identical to George William Egmont Bieber (b. 1840), whose "select and valuable
collection of English coins and medals, in gold, silver and copper" was sold at Sotheby's, London, 13 May 1889. George William Egmont Bieber, a London businessman, is listed in the electoral register in London until 1924.
(2) Johann Gottfried Schramm was an architect known as Gottfried Schramm, who was active in Hamburg from 1929-1931.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 1, Italian Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Transformation: the LACMA Campaign. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2008.

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