Andrea Mantegna and the iconographic creation

This bilingual book delved into the uniqueness of this particular iconography unique and original by Andrea Mantegna: the Madonna of Tenderness with Child slumbering, which as devotional image, had not yet inexplicably found its recognition. The uniqueness of this particular iconography of the 'Sleeping Child', which can be found in scenes depicting the Nativity, the Child in his mother’s lap, and here represented in the style of the Madonna “Glycophilousa”, that is Madonna of Tenderness in which the traditional reciprocity and intimacy of the relationship between Mother and Child depicted, is replaced with an iconography in which the intimacy becomes unilateral, as a result of the Christ Child’s slumber: there are no precedents for this iconography, and it will remain a unique iconographic creation, and indeed, because of this, it would be fascinating to further investigate its possible meaning and message, within the historical and cultural context of the artist who created it. The research starts from the direct study of a painting known but unpublished, and in possession of his original frame 'Mantegna' compared with the framework of the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan. Thanks to