Madonna with Child (called the “Gypsy”)

This early, fragile work has undergone multiple transformations since Correggio first conceived it. A clumsy restoration in 1935 removed many details, including trees and greenery, a rabbit in the left middleground, and beautifully painted sandals worn by the Virgin. Nevertheless, Correggio’s unprecedented emotional charge remains. The pose in which Mary envelopes her newborn son with her entire body is the artist’s own invention.

Many copies of Correggio’s original composition were made. Excellent versions are in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and the Escorial royal palace near Madrid. The removal of the Virgin’s sandals during the 1935 restoration implies that the painting was mistakenly believed to be a popular devotional type in which Mary sits barefoot on the ground, called a Madonna of Humility.