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During the 15th century, many advancement in the elements of art changed how a painter painted. To name a few, paintings with extensive usage of one-point perspective, greater sense of realism, unified composition, sense of mood, and more vibrant depth of colors are just some advancements made. A 16th century artist, Parmigianino demonstrated his ability as a painter in The Madonna and Child. In Parmigianino’s painting, we see vast difference and similarities from 15th century paintings, such as Mantegna’s The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John the Baptist. A significant difference can be seen in the depth of the palette Parmigianino used. The richer colors provided by oil paint gives more depth to the figures. Therefore, figures appear more volumetric. The sense of realism grounds the Virgin and the Christ child to our universe, our world, not another as it was in the earlier paintings from early 14th and earlier centuries. A teacher who was lecturing to her student noted that during this time period, the painters were trying to ground holy figures more down to earth (passing by teacher). It is clear and deliberate in Parmigianino’s painting that Madonna and Christ child radiates more humanistic qualities. In the Kimbell side note it notes that Parmigianino used real baby as a model (Kimbell side note). The lively expression and movement of the Christ child shows humanistic qualities that I have never seen in the pervious Madonna and Child painting, even in Mantegna’s Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Kimbell side note). Adding to humanistic looks of the holy Virgin and Child is the skin tone. Skin tone is the primary color in the composition. Its color is very realistic. It’s not too pinkish or too yellowy. It’s perfect match to real skin tone, at least to my eyes. The very depth of the skin, highlight to medium tone then to dark brownish tone, is rich and vibrantly painted on. The change in the hues comes from the light source, which clearly comes down diagonally from the top left corner of the panel.
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