Castelfranco Madonna

Madonna and Child Between St. Francis and St. Nicasius
ArtistGiorgione
Yearc. 1503/04
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensions200.5 cm × 144.5 cm (78.9 in × 56.9 in)
LocationDuomo of Castelfranco Veneto
The painting in its setting

The Madonna and Child Between St. Francis and St. Nicasius, also known as Castelfranco Madonna or Pala di Castelfranco, is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Giorgione executed around 1504. It remains in the equivalent of its original setting, in a side-chapel of the Cathedral of Castelfranco Veneto, Giorgione's native city, in Veneto, northern Italy, although the present church dates to the 18th century.

The picture has all the elements of a typical sacra conversazione, with the Madonna enthroned with the child, with St. Francis to the right and St. Nicasius to the left. However, the extreme height of the throne is most unusual and creates a very different effect from the pictures of this type by Giovanni Bellini and other painters, where the throne is only slightly raised and the figures are at roughly the same level.[1]

It is one of a handful of paintings - perhaps three - which can be very firmly attributed to Giorgione.

  1. ^ Steer, 79-84