This bilingual book delved into the uniqueness of this particular iconography unique and original by Andrea Mantegna: the Madonna of Tenderness with Child slumbering, which as devotional image, had not yet inexplicably found its recognition. The uniqueness of this particular iconography of the 'Sleeping Child', which can be found in scenes depicting the Nativity, the Child in his mother’s lap, and here represented in the style of the Madonna “Glycophilousa”, that is Madonna of Tenderness in which the traditional reciprocity and intimacy of the relationship between Mother and Child depicted, is replaced with an iconography in which the intimacy becomes unilateral, as a result of the Christ Child’s slumber: there are no precedents for this iconography, and it will remain a unique iconographic creation, and indeed, because of this, it would be fascinating to further investigate its possible meaning and message, within the historical and cultural context of the artist who created it.
The research starts from the direct study of a painting known but unpublished, and in possession of his original frame 'Mantegna' compared with the framework of the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan. Thanks to X-rays and reflectography made available from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, which is the private collection, published here for the first time together, it was possible to compare the two paintings scientifically.
The book explores the various aspects of this particular creation iconography and includes essays by specialists in the field. Maurizio Marini, famous seventeenth century art historian, led the study from his point of view, Simon Bobak, restorer and lecturer at the Hamilton Kerr Institute at the University of Cambridge, has checked the condition of the unpublished painting, Nicholas Eastaugh, scientific advisor and honorary member at Oxford University, has carried out the survey on scientific 'distempere'; Claudio Metzger, checked the source and summary of unpublished studies the history of the Madonna, Timothy Newbery, frame specialist, author and editor of major publications and exhibitions, has studied the frame.
As curator, coauthor and coordinator of this project I tried to be consistent with the title and provide the volume with an innovative and original graphic layout: each line of the Italian text appears with its English translation immediately beneath it. One of the major difficulties was effort of keeping the lines of the respective texts of equal length, in addition to ensuring that the bi-lingual foot-notes and the images should appear on the same page in which they were referenced. The text in the two languages can be compared as you are reading, and the images referred to and the foot-notes consulted, without having to turn pages in order to find them elsewhere, as is traditional practice. The crowning graphic achievement is the “reading-grille” which facilitates the reading of one language or the other, but if necessary to control the translation for a better understanding.