Madonna with child

In his long life that covered the Florentine fifteenth century, Neri di Bicci was a figure far away from the extraordinary flourishing of the great geniuses of the Italian Renaissance. However, in his quiet career as a son and grandson of artists, he performed real miracles of graceful compositions that still remain close to the gothic style, but which nevertheless present the ineffable grace of the wonderful fifteenth-century Tuscany. Thus, the imperfections of this work, which is almost certainly ascribed to him, become signs of a chromatic balance and a freshness of tones that transform the subject from normal to sublime. The large legs of the Child, the background wall which divides the picture somewhat unevenly, and the almost naive taste of the decorations on the wall on which stands the little Jesus may at first appear to be defects, but instead they give an overall aura of metaphysical suspension, though recreating an almost common scene between a mother and a little boy. Thus, the great golden disks of the haloes are curious ornaments for two faces that take strength and life from the redness of the cheeks, hinting to the shyness of the protagonists as well as to their common nature .