Goldfinch in art

April 22, 2023
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The bird that repeatedly, almost obsessively, turns up in Renaissance religious painting is the European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis, almost always in the hands of the Infant Jesus, and symbolising variously the soul, resurrection, sacrifice and death, but with a particular further dimension of meaning, following the plagues of the fourteenth century, as an augur (and hence relating to the healing of the sick, and thus redemption). The distinguished ornithologist Herbert Friedmann (1946) made a scholarly study of this phenomenon in which he traced no fewer than 486 devotional pictures containing the Goldfinch attributed to 254 artists, 214 of them Italian.

  • BirdLife International (2008) The Goldfinch in Renaissance art. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/04/2023

Some of the most famous artists to make use of the theme are:

Leonardo da Vinci (Madonna Litta, 1490–1491)

The Madonna Litta is a late 15th-century painting, traditionally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child, a devotional subject known as the Madonna lactans. The figures are set in a dark interior with two arched openings, as in Leonardo’s earlier Madonna of the Carnation, and a mountainous landscape in aerial perspective can be seen beyond. In his left hand Christ holds a goldfinch, which is symbolic of his future Passion. Scholarly opinion is divided on the work’s attribution, with some believing it to be the work of a pupil of Leonardo such as Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio or Marco d’Oggiono; the Hermitage Museum, however, considers the painting to be an autograph work by Leonardo. The painting takes its name from the House of Litta, a Milanese noble family in whose collection it was for much of the nineteenth century.

Raphael, Solly Madonna, 1502

The Solly Madonna by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael was painted sometime between 1500 and 1504. An early work, it clearly shows the influence of Raphael’s teacher Perugino. Two motifs in this work would recur in later Madonnas by Raphael. The virgin Mary is reading a book, as in the Madonna and Child in the Norton Simon Museum, the Conestabile Madonna, the Madonna Colonna and the Madonna del cardellino. As in that last painting a small bird, a goldfinch, is part of the scene. Szakolczai 2007, p. 267. Fossi 2004. The painting is located in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It is called the Solly Madonna because it was owned by the British banker and art collector Edward Solly (1776–1848).

Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch, 1506

The Madonna del cardellino or Madonna of the Goldfinch is an oil on wood painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, from c. 1505–1506. A 10-year restoration process was completed in 2008, after which the painting was returned to its home at the Uffizi in Florence. During the restoration, an antique copy replaced the painting in the gallery.

Zurbarán (Madonna and Child with the Infant St John, 1658)

File:Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Francisco de Zurbarán, San Diego Museum

Tiepolo (Madonna of the Goldfinch, 1760)

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo – Madonna of the Goldfinch

Piero della Francesca’s Nativity (1470)

The Nativity is an oil painting by Italian Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca, dated to 1470–75. The painting depicts a scene from the birth of Jesus, and is one of the latest surviving paintings made by the artist before his death in 1492. The nativity scene has been translocated from Bethlehem to a clear summer day on a hill overlooking the Tuscan landscape, with a winding river to the left, and the urban landscape of a fortified town to the right, perhaps Piero della Francesca’s birthplace of Borgo Sansepolcro. The painting was made for the artist’s family palace in his home town, originally thought to be an altarpiece for a private chapel, but now understood to have been hung in the bedchamber. In the centre is a ruined stone stable with sloping wooden roof, occupied by an ass and an ox. The dilapidated stable is painted at an awkwardly skewed angle on a rocky hilltop, perhaps intended to reflect the precarious circumstances of Jesus’s birth. In the foreground, the infant Jesus is lying naked on the folds of the Virgin Mary’s blue cloak spread on the ground, reflecting a vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden from the 14th century, widely known in the 15th century. The Christ Child’s arms are raised towards his serene mother, white-faced and light-haired, who is kneeling alongside, with her slender fingers steepled in prayer. She is wearing a blue gown with red cuffs and bodice, and a long blue cloak, with a light veil over her hair, and pearls in her hair and on her necklace. To the right, Joseph is sitting with crossed legs on a donkey’s saddle placed on the ground, in a pose recalling the Hellenistic Spinario bronze sculpture, prominently revealing the sole of his right foot to the viewer. Joseph is wearing a pink gown with black jacket and blue hat, and is speaking to two shepherds in plain brown clothes, one with a red hat. One shepherd is holding a staff and gesturing heavenward, while the other gazes upwards, perhaps towards a star (not visible). The Holy Family are being serenaded by a group of five angels, standing like classical sculptures in long gowns to the left, two playing lutes and two others with open mouths as if singing. The scene includes other plants and birds, including a magpie on the roof of the stable, temporarily silenced from its incessant chattering, and a red-faced goldfinch, symbol of redemption or the passion, in a shrub to the left. The painting underwent a three-year conservation project, and the restored painting went on display at the National Gallery in December 2022 Held by the National Gallery in London, It is a popular image on Christmas cards.

Michelangelo’s marble relief (Madonna and Child with the Young St John—the Taddei tondo, 1502)

Michelangelo’s marble relief (Madonna and Child with the Young St John—the Taddei tondo, 1502) The tondo depicts a seated Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus dynamically sprawled across her lap, turning and looking back over his right shoulder towards the infant Saint John the Baptist, who stands before him looking down and holding a fluttering bird. Compositionally, the eye of the viewer is drawn diagonally along Christ’s body, back up that of his mother, with her gaze across to John, and from his face back to Christ. John, patron saint of Florence, with his attribute of a baptismal bowl, crosses his arms, perhaps in allusion to the cross. Most likely it is a goldfinch not a dove that he holds – Christian symbolism sees in this bird a representation of the Passion – the piece of marble below might then have been intended as a crown of thorns.

Bronzino’s Giovanni de’ Medici as a Child (1545)

Bronzino’s Giovanni de’ Medici as a Child (1545) This portrait uses oil paint on panel and portrays Giovanni di Cosimo de’ Medici. It was painted for his father, Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Bronzino was the official painter of the Medici Court from 1532 and did many portraits of Duke Cosimo I and his family. An extended title for this portrait is the Portrait of Giovanni de’ Medici as a Child holding a Goldfinch. It was painted sometime between 1544 and 1545, based on the child’s age. Giovanni was born in the September 1543 and this portrait depicts him at the age of eighteen months. He is wearing a pink doublet, which is painted with high detail. He holds a goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) in his hand, which is a Christian symbol, because the goldfinch eats thistle seed and so is associated with Christ’s Crown of Thorns and the Passion. It appears in religious paintings to represent the knowledge of the future Crucifixion. Around his neck, he wears a gold chain with a coral and other charms. It was believed that coral could protect children from harm. Unlike Bronzino’s other portraits that depict the sitters viewing the world with a distant, aristocratic disdain, Giovanni’s portrait is animated and engaging. The portraits of Cosimo’s other children are represented with the same emotionless faces as the adults. They do not show any of the children’s personality and are very serious. It is a natural depiction of early childhood with his chubby face and fingers. Two of his baby teeth are peeping out, and he has tufts of fine hair that all add to his delightful representation. His active expression is that of a young child as he smiles and gazes out at the viewer. Giovanni was the fourth and youngest child of Cosimo, and was portrayed differently from his brothers because his father had different goals for his life. Years later, after Giovanni became a cardinal at the age of seventeen, he had Bronzino paint an allegorical portrait titled Portrait of Giovanni de’ Medici as St. John the Baptist, which was painted between 1560 and 1562. It was said a month after he was born, he was “beautiful and plump” (bello e grasso) and “like an angel from paradise”. In 1547, he was described as “the handsomest and happiest boy that ever was…” which certainly fits the portrayal of his character in this charming portrait.

Goya’s Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga (1790)

Goya’s Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga (1790) Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga is a large full-length portrait in oil painted in 1787–88 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It depicts a boy three or four years of age, standing in red clothes, with birds and cats. It is also known as Goya’s “Red Boy”. It was described by art historian Claus Virch in 1967 as “one of the most appealing and successful portraits of children ever painted, and also one of the most famous”. The painting has been held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1949. The painting was commissioned by the boy’s father, Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso y Guzmán es, conde de Altamira, who held many titles and was also a director of the Banco de San Carlos. Manuel is dressed in a red silk costume with white collar and cuffs, silver satin sash, and white shoes decorated with bows. He holds a string attached to his pet magpie, with Goya’s visiting card in its beak. To Manuel’s left is a cage of finches, while three cats are intently watching the magpie on his right. The boy’s pale face and bright costume contrast against the drab olive-brown background. The pets in this portrait have been analyzed in many different ways. The caged birds may symbolize the innocent soul, the cats may be an evil force. For example, Goya shows a cat among the creatures in The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, part of The Caprices.
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