# Sacra Conversazione [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [PALMA VECCHIO]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on panel, 64 x 90 cm ## Commentary The Sacra conversazione \(holy conversation\) involving the Madonna and Christ Child with saints \(in this case St John the Baptist and St Catherine\) was a genre in which Palma Vecchio excelled. These works were painted for wealthy patrons and were intended for private devotion in a domestic environment. The figures are normally shown half-length, the Madonna and Child painted on the same scale as the figures venerating them, and they all appear to co-exist in the same picture space, without the hierarchy so typical of Renaissance triptychs and polyptychs. Although Palma was a pioneer in the genre he often had recourse to Titian's works, as is the case here. ## Related artworks - [A Blonde Woman]() - [A Sibyl]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds with a Doonor]() - [Assumption of Mary]() - [Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery]() - [Jacob and Rachel]() - [Judith]() - [Madonna and Child]() - [Polyptych of St Barbara \(central panel\)]() - [Polyptych of St Barbara]() - [Portrait of a Man]() - [Portrait of a Woman \(La Bella\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()