# Madonna degli Alberetti [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BELLINI, Giovanni]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Oil on panel, 74 x 58 cm ## Commentary This highly balanced picture incorporates a system of double lighting that characterizes a small group of similar compositions. The curtain behind the Virgin captures the light coming from in front of her in such a way that the shadow of her figure is projected onto the fabric. In the landscape background beyond, on the other hand, the light expands totally independently in an even, diffused luminosity. The two small trees, or alberetti, on either side of the Virgin that give the painting its name may allude to the Song of Solomon or, in contrast with the dead bushes next to them, the Old and New Testaments. The panel, the first known work by Bellini to bear a date, is signed and dated under the feet of the Child: IOANNES.BELLINUS.P. / 1487. ## Related artworks - [Agony in the Garden \(detail\)]() - [Agony in the Garden]() - [Angel Announcing \(detail\)]() - [Angel of the Annunciation and Virgin Annunciate]() - [Angel of the Annunciation and Virgin Annunciate]() - [Baptism of Christ]() - [Barbarigo Altarpiece \(detail\)]() - [Barbarigo Altarpiece \(detail\)]() - [Barbarigo Altarpiece \(detail\)]() - [Barbarigo Altarpiece]() - [Blessing Christ]() - [Bust of a Man]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()