My Kid Could Paint That

Piero Della Francesca, Brera Altarpiece, 1472

At first glace Piero Della Francesca's Brera Alterpiece of Madonna and Child looks like an awkward family portrait including the Virgin Mary with a very large lap. For some reason there is also an egg on a string above Mary and Baby Jesus.

While reading Michael Baxandall's Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, we learn to look at the painting with a more critical eye. Baxandall taught us to look at the stance of a the figures and where they are placed. The Angels and Saints are focused around Mary and Jesus putting the focus on the center of the painting. It is thought that St. John the Baptist and St. Francis are in the group symbolizing a momentous occasion. He would also say look at the colors. Mary is wearing her typical blue robe,and Jesus has a necklace of red beads with the foreshadowing and symbol of blood.

The egg above is thought to be a round ostrich egg. This could be symbolizing the fertility and creation. Although I enjoy looking at this painting I cannot get over how awkward and uncomfortable the people look. How can Mary balance Jesus like that? Why is the man at the bottom in a full ninty degree angle? And of course, why is there and egg on a string?

Piero della Franchesca, Brera Altarpiece, 1472

Painted by Piero della Franchesca for Lord Frederico da Montefeltro, a dedicated patron of Italian artists, the Brera Altarpiece shows an assembled half-circle of various saints and angels gathered around the Madonna and Child. In the foreground, an armored Montefeltro is kneeling before Jesus. Because of a dueling accident, Montefeltro had a scar across the right side of his face, and part of the bridge of his nose was missing - meaning he had to be portrayed in profile, from his good side.

Although the faces and proportions of the assembled saints may be questionable, and baby Jesus looks about to roll off Mary's lap, above them stands a strikingly gorgeous barreled arch in perspective, a seashell-like dome, and an egg dangling from its tip, a symbol of the creation. Various theories about this enigmatic symbol link the seashell to depictions of Venus or to a symbol of the immaculate conception (since oysters create pearls without male intervention). The egg may also represent a hope of regeneration or simply be a reference to the ostrich in the Montefeltro crest. This painting is not unique in showing an egg hanging from the ceiling, and indeed real ostrich eggs were sometimes hung in churches as curiosities and reminders of God's grace.

When rediscovered in the 19th century, the paint had darkened almost out of recognition; modern reconstruction allowed the intricate details of the clothing, the reflections on Montefeltro's armor, and the Oriental rug beneath Mary's throne to return to focus. The painting, some scholars suggest, was commissioned to celebrate the birth of Montefeltro's son Guidobaldo. Whatever its original purpose or the true symbolism of the enigmatic egg might be, this altarpiece holds layers of symbolism and intricate details not obvious on a first viewing.