Supernatural blue

The blue of the cloak that envelops the Madonna with the Christ Child still shines as it did over 500 years ago. Each individual fold is carefully modeled using different shades of blue. According to tradition, Lorenzo di Credi is said to have used a separate brush for each of his up to 30 shades of blue. The unique ultramarine blue of the coat was made from the precious mineral lapis lazuli. Only the Virgin Mary was allowed to wear such a deep blue cloak.

Lorenzo di Credi trained as a painter and sculptor under Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. His fellow student was none other than Leonardo da Vinci. There he learned technically perfect painting as well as the exact reproduction of light and perspective.

On the basis of recent painting technology studies carried out at the Doerner Institut in Munich in 2018, there are new findings regarding the creation of the painting: Lorenzo di Credi probably transferred the subject from a cardboard, i.e. a kind of preliminary drawing, onto the panel. This means that the contour lines were pressed through from the cardboard onto the panel using the so-called "calco process". He then traced the contour lines with a brush.

This can be seen in the infrared image that makes the signature visible.