Davis Madonna

The Davis Madonna is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian artist Gentile da Fabriano, created c. 1410.

The painting is named after Theodore M. Davis who acquired it in Florence, early in the 20th century before leaving it to its present owner in 1915.

The Virgin Mary is seen seated on a slender throne pierced with arches and Gothic decorations, which is reminiscent of the Venetian tradition (both architectural and goldsmith's), from which dense foliage of shrubs sprout.

The 'plant throne' merges the iconography of the Maestà's throne with the Madonna of Humility sat on the earth, due also to the similarity between the Latin words humus ("meadow") and humilitas ("humility").

At the base there are small musical angels and a scroll bearing the Regina caeli, an Easter antiphon that reads: "[R]egina c[o]eli l[a] eta re alleluia [quia] quem meruist [i] por tar[e a]ll[e]luya [r]esur [rexit] / sicut".

The painting before restoration