How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This is probably the earliest of Michelangelo's surviving paintings. It is unfinished -- the black modelling of the Virgin Mary's cloak has not had its final coats of blue, and the angels to the left have barely been begun. We don't know why the picture was never completed.The Virgin sits on a rock with the Christ Child and young John the Baptist next to her. Angels stand on either side -- we can make out the two on the left only by the lines drawn in to mark out the folds in their clothes and by the areas of greenish underpainting traditionally used to balance the pinkish flesh tones that would be painted over them.Saint John the Baptist in his camel skin looks out past us, perhaps to suggest his role in preparing the way for Christ's ministry.
Title
The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels ('The Manchester Madonna')
Date
about 1497
Medium
Tempera on wood
Measurements
H 104.5 x W 77 cm
Accession number
NG809
Acquisition method
Bought, 1870
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
Stories
-
'Michelangelo & Sebastiano' at The National GalleryRosalind McKever
-
Unfinished: why are we drawn to imperfection?Lydia Figes