Mary as Queen of Heaven with the Christ Child

Artist Tino di Camaino Italian, ca. 1285 - 1337

Dateca. 1330

Place of OriginItaly

MediumMarble

DimensionsOverall: 19 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 1 7/8 in. (48.9 x 37.8 x 4.8 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineBequest of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde

Object number1971.101

On View

On view

Collections

Sculpture
European Paintings & Sculpture

DescriptionMary, here crowned as Queen of Heaven, holds her son Christ on her left arm while offering him fruit. He turns and lifts his gaze to her while holding a bird, likely a European goldfinch, a common reference to Christ’s coming Passion and Resurrection. The fruit has been identified as either a pomegranate or grapes, both symbols appearing often in images of Mary and Christ. The red of the pomegranate would recall Christ’s blood, while grapes refer to the Eucharistic wine, also the blood of Christ. Either symbolizes Christ’s future suffering and rebirth, and Christ seems to withdraw warily from them.

A virtually identical relief by Tino in size, symbolism, and design, located in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and another almost identical one in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg—where Christ turns his head away from Mary’s tender glance—asserts the relief’s popularity and suggests serial production by Tino and his shop for such desirable works. Various fourteenth-century artists employ similar symbolism, suggesting Tino, while influenced by sculptors Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, also knew works by Sienese painters like Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti.

Tino was working in Naples for the King, Robert d’Anjou, when he made this late work. He had arrived in the city in 1324 and died there ca. 1337. The sculpture’s small size suggests it served as a devotional relief in a domestic setting, though it may have originally formed part of a devotional diptych or even larger polyptych. Reliefs such as these would have had significant polychromy (paint) originally, certainly on the facial features, hair, clothing and crown details, the goldfinch, and fruit; and possibly on the background. There may also have been painted haloes. Mary and Christ’s flesh would have remained unpainted, and so has been polished to a higher degree than their draperies and the background.

Text by Penny Howell Jolly, Professor Emerita of Art History, Skidmore College, February 2026Exhibition HistoryNew York State Pavilion, New York World's Fair, Flushing Meadow, NY, 1964-65.

"Medieval Art in Upstate New York," Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, 1974.

"Family Pride: The Italian Renaissance House and its Furnishings," The Hyde Collection, April 12 - May 20, 1984.

"Objects of Devotion," Hoopes Galllery, The Hyde Collection, Nov. 30, 2003-Feb. 29, 2004.Provenancebefore 1938, Rome, Italy, private collector
1938, Glens Falls, NY, Mr. and Mrs. Louis F. Hyde
1963, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust (Bequest of Charlotte P. Hyde)