Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome

The table is most likely part of that production of small-format 'sacred conversations' intended for private devotion. The autograph of the signature on the tag, ascertained on the occasion of the 1984 restoration, confirms Mansueti's paternity. The typology of the Madonna, framed below the knees, and its hieratic isolation – obtained thanks to the damask cloth behind her, made with the spolvero technique – compared to the surrounding landscape and to the two side figures of Saint Jerome and the Child, are all elements that refer to late works by Giovanni Bellini. The hilly landscape and the half-length Saint Jerome, however, refer to 15th century models, both for the dryness of the sign and for the analytical attention to detail.