ABSTRACT
One of the most famous early paintings in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is the Mellon Madonna, a thirteenth-century image of the Virgin and Child Enthroned. Pushing the discussion further along, it seems to me that each of the positions mentioned above contributed some important insights for understanding the style. In discussing the artist of the Mellon Madonna, Belting pointed out how his technique was entirely western and non-Byzantine, mixing paints to create the delicately shaded faces of the figures instead of painting in the Byzantine manner of layering the paint. The style of the St Nicholas is clearly flatter than that of the more threedimensional Mellon Madonna: folds in his garments are indicated by black linear elements whereas for the Virgin there are much more deeply shaded. The Virgin in red and blue is seen on Cyprus, for example, in the paintings at the church of the Panagia in Moutoullas.
