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The Madonna of Humility adored by Leonello d’Este

Original Title: La Madonna dell’Umiltà adorata da un principe della casata Estense
Date: c.1450; Italy
Style: Early Renaissance
Genre: religious painting
Media: oil, panel
Location: Louvre, Paris, France
Dimensions: 60.2 x 40.1 cm

In the Virgin of Humility, Bellini incorporates Gothic traditions with his early Renaissance developments. Notice the Pseudo-Kufic script on the hem of the Madonna, which is a script with Arabic influences, often used in Renaissance art to indicate that the character was from the holy land. Filipo Lippi and Antonio Vivarini, both early Renaissance painters, used similar scripts on their Madonna figures within the same time period. Pseudo-Kufic script dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries, but it was not widely incorporated into paintings until Italian painters began using it widely in their paintings, becoming a typical element of early Renaissance art.