Tiziano (c.1488-1576)
Madonna delle ciliegie (Cherry Madonna)
c.1516–1518
Oil transferred from canvas to wood, 81.6 × 100.2 × 1.1 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
On the left St. Joseph, on the right St. John the Boy and St. Zacharias.
Similar to the “Madonna with Child in front of a colourful Shroud of Honour” (inv. no. GG_95), Mary, Christ Child and little John are composed into a triangular shape between cloth and parapet. It symbolizes permanence, validity and harmony. But the dynamic gestures of the children, offering cherries to the Mother of God, threaten to upset the balance. Only in a second painting did Titian insert the two saints Joseph and Zacharias, who calm and stabilize the composition. (KHM)