Cima Da Conegliano And Workshop — The Nursing Virgin, C. 1490

We are pleased to present a recently rediscovered work of museum quality, which has been reintroduced to the art-historical scene after spending several decades in a private, closed collection. This painting represents a major contribution to the study of the Venetian High Renaissance, depicting the Virgin nursing the Infant Jesus (a rare iconographic type in the master’s oeuvre, known as Madonna Lactans or Galaktotrophousa).

Expert Appraisal and Attribution:
This work is accompanied by a detailed expert report dated November 7, 2025, written by the eminent British art historian and the world’s leading specialist in Venetian painting, Professor Peter Humfrey, author of the artist’s definitive catalogue raisonné (Cima da Conegliano, Cambridge, 1983).

Based on a rigorous stylistic analysis and a recent restoration (2025), Professor Humfrey dates the work to the master’s early creative period, more specifically to the first half of the 1490s (circa 1489–1492). The expert classifies it as a collaborative work by Cima da Conegliano and his workshop, while emphasizing that the master himself played a decisive role in its conception and design. Professor Humfrey notes that the rediscovery of this painting makes a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the master’s overall body of work, as it is the oldest known example of this iconography of breastfeeding in Cima’s entire oeuvre.

Provenance and Exhibition History:

• Before 1954: Pierrard Collection, Brussels.
• 1954: The painting was featured in the famous historical exhibition “De Madonna in de Kunst” (“The Madonna in Art”) at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen), which took place from August 28 to November 30, 1954. It is listed in the official catalog under no. 607 (attributed to the “School of Bellini,” which was common in the mid-20th century for Cima’s early works). The original 1954 exhibition label remains affixed to the back of the stretcher.
• Today: Private collection.

Stylistic Characteristics:
The composition brings together all the classic and most recognizable elements of Cima da Conegliano’s style:

• The parapet in the foreground, imitating the precious red marble of Verona (rosso di Verona), upon which the Virgin rests.
• The green curtain (the "fabric of honor"), forming a partially drawn curtain that opens onto the landscape.
• The landscape in the background, of great poetic finesse, with its winding path and river leading toward distant mountains, evoking Cima’s native region at the foot of the Dolomites.
• The Child’s face bears a direct compositional resemblance (suggesting the use of the same cartoon) to Cima’s Madonna and Child, housed at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. The Virgin’s features are stylistically similar to those of his Madonnas in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Condition and Framing:
Excellent condition. In 2025, the painting underwent careful professional conservation, revealing the freshness of the master’s original color palette. The work is enhanced by a magnificent carved and gilded Renaissance-style frame, which emphasizes its noble and monumental character.