He sits not on a throne nor feeds a child; instead he rests on a cushion, his left arm cradling a boy who stands on one knee. The boy leans his cheek toward his mother, gazing with quiet devotion. In her hand rises a lily, a symbol of the virgin’s purity, while she wears a red tunic and a broad blue cloak set against a gold background. Two angels, one holding a lute and the other a small organ at their feet, accompany the scene. This piece, titled The Virgin of Humility, stands as a landmark work of the Renaissance and a standout by Fra Angelico. The Thyssen Museum has announced a long restoration process for it this Monday, with plans to exhibit the painting in a circular installation through December 12, 2023. An explanatory video documents the intervention, using two musical instruments similar to the ones depicted, inviting viewers to remember, and also showing the painting’s reverse side.
Resting on a table that is among the Thyssen collection’s finest treasures, the work has been displayed only three times in the museum—2006, 2009, and 2021. It came to the capital after being part of a broader presentation that included about 80 Italian and German works stored in Barcelona since 1992, first at the Pedralbes Abbey and since 2004 at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), from which it will return.