In early 13th century Italian images of the Virgin and Child there was a lack of interaction between the two figures. For example, in the Tuscan panel painting known as the Madonna degli occhi grossi (fig.1), the Child sits directly in front of the Virgin Mary and they both stare impassively out towards the viewer. However, with the popular spirituality of the mendicant friars sweeping through Italy in the 13th century, the image of the Madonna and Child was developed so as to express the humanity of the Virgin.
This development was helped by the adaptation of a Byzantine iconic image, known as the Hodegetria (fig 2), in which the Madonna points towards the Christ Child. In representations of the Byzantine Hodegetria the Madonna usually holds her Son in her left arm as she points to him with her right hand. Following the composition of the Byzantine image, Italian artists started to move the Christ Child away from the central axis of the picture to be held in his mother's arm, facilitating a more expressive relationship between them, as shown in Cimabue's painting of the Virgin and Child in his Maestà (fig.3), and even more so in the representation of the Virgin & Child in the Daddi triptych.
