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| Gerino da Pistoia (Gerino Gerini) Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist ca. 1514 oil on panel Palazzo Pretorio, Prato |
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| Ortolano (Giovanni Battista Benvenuti) Virgin and Child with St Catherine of Alexandria ca. 1515-20 oil on panel Fondazione Cavallini Sgarbi, Ferrara |
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| Antonio del Ceraiolo Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist ca. 1520 oil on panel Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
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| Bernardino Luini Virgin and Child with an Apple ca. 1525 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
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| Domenico Puligo Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist ca. 1525 oil on panel Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
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| Quentin Metsys Virgin and Child before 1530 oil on panel Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels |
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| Jan Gossaert and Anonymous Landscape Painter Virgin and Child in a Landscape 1531 oil on panel Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
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| Daniele da Volterra Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist and St Barbara ca. 1545-50 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Giovanni Francesco Caroto Virgin and Child before 1555 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Jacopo Bertoia Virgin and Child before 1574 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Piero di Cosimo Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist, St Cecilia and Angels ca. 1505 oil on panel Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Carlo Portelli Virgin and Child before 1574 oil on panel Palazzo Pretorio, Prato |
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| Biagio Pupini Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist ca. 1550 drawing Musée du Louvre |
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| Gregorio Pagani Virgin and Child enthroned with St Michael Archangel and St Benedict 1595 oil on canvas Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo, Terranuova Bracciolini |
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| Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battista Salvi) after Raphael The Aldobrandini Madonna before 1685 oil on canvas Musée du Louvre |
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| Ferdinando Puccini after Andrea del Sarto Virgin and Child with young St John the Baptist and St Elizabeth ca. 1847 oil on canvas Maidstone Museum, Kent |
from Madonna of the Pomegranate
They crowd the blue triangle of the madonna –
these adolescents who are also angels,
eyes staring everywhere but straight ahead,
absorbed in the changeless commerce of their world.
* * *
Madonna doesn't notice them. She's vague,
thin-faced, eyes drifting downward to the left,
a virgin holding her first child, cradling
him on the tips of her long fragile fingers
as if she isn't sure where he came from –
so beautiful he almost isn't flesh.
Thus only Christ, unwavering, looks at us,
his left hand resting on a pomegranate
that splashes ruby light into the air,
his right hand raised in blessing or a wave
as he forgives us for not being art
or says goodbye since he will live forever.
– Andrew Hudgins (1984)