The painting Madonna and Child With Saint John the Baptist at the North Carolina Museum of Art depicts the Virgin Mary, baby Jesus, and baby Saint John the Baptist.

The placement of the people focus mainly on the left and bottom sides of the painting, leaving an open space in the top right that has been solved by the artist having painted a window there. The window works itself into the painting as a regular object that does not take any of the viewer’s main focus away from the people. As much of the painting area as possible was used for the people, with Mary’s head touching the top of the border, her wrist nearly meeting the left border, and her legs close to the bottom. Rather than seeming intrusive, this close-up scene emits rather a heartfelt atmosphere.

A good sense of line is used in the painting, as the forms keep the viewer’s eyes from going right off the page. Each of the three people in the painting are connected--Mary is holding baby Jesus on a raised platform, and Jesus is standing on her lap, reaching out and touching John’s cross that includes part of Mary‘s head veil in the background. As focus of attention normally leads the viewer starting from the bottom left-hand corner, the main focus becomes the relationship of Jesus and Saint John, shared by the small cross they hold.

The painting contains depth in making the people feel closer to the viewer than the background wall and window. With use of shading and each person’s position, they look three dimensional, rather than appearing flat.