A Madonna and Child ( 60.173) by Berlinghiero, the foremost painter of the period working in the Tuscan city of Lucca, is one such example: in this panel, the Madonna gestures solemnly toward the infant Christ, depicted as a miniature adult, who wears a philosopher’s robes and gestures in blessing. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Christian armies of the Fourth Crusade, precious objects from Byzantium made their way to Italian soil and profoundly influenced the art produced there, especially the brightly colored gold-ground panels that proliferated during the thirteenth century. Miniature illustrations in the Bibles, which relate to contemporary monumental wall paintings produced in Rome, were strongly influenced by early Christian painting cycles from Roman churches. Large illustrated Bibles (“giant Bibles”) and Exultet Rolls-liturgical scrolls containing texts for the celebration of Easter, produced in the Benevento region of southern Italy-enjoyed great popularity from about 1050 onward. Even after this area fell under Norman rule in about 1071, Italy maintained a strong link with Byzantium through trade, and this link was expressed in the art of the period. Until the late eleventh century, southern Italy occupied the western border of the vast Byzantine empire.

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