The tactility of the forms

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. Page 166.

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11 PAOLO DI GIOVANNI FEI, Sienese, act. by 1369—d. 1411
Madonna and Child
Tempera on wood, gold ground; overall, with engaged frame, 341/4 x 231/4 in. (87 x 59.1 cm)

Some of the most appealing images of the fourteenth century are based on the theme of the Virgin nursing her Child — the Madonna del Latte. Paolo di Giovanni Fei's remarkable paint-ing, in which the solemn Virgin is portrayed frontally, while the head and the limbs of the lively Christ Child are aligned along a diagonal that crosses her torso, is among the most beautiful of these works. This picture is exceptional for both the tactility of the forms and the un-compromisingly regular brushwork with which they are described. No less exceptional are the almost perfect state of preservation and the original frame decorated with raised floral pat-terns, cabochon jewels, and glass medallions executed in a technique known as verre eglomise. The painting dates early in Fei's career, about 1380. Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941, 41.190.13