Old religious painting

It's lovely!

It's in the style of a Byzantine icon. If it's a real Byzantine icon it could be worth a whole lot of money. Take it to an appraiser or someone who insures art to get an idea of what you have instead of relying on the internet. They'll need to look at it up close and in person.

Thanks for the advice. I actually only got interested in getting a valuation after visiting the Uffizi gallery in Florence last month. In one room, I was totally surprised to see on a wall, six very similar paintings, in a row with the same metal ring on top. Although those looked restored, the similarity was unmistakable. I got the distinct impression that my painting was a missing part of this series.

There were thousands and thousands of Madonnas painted in this style so there are probably tens of thousands of forgeries.

I'm no expert but something about your Madonna's feet bother me but that could be just because you didn't see her feet in most of the icons.

I'd most definitely get it appraised. Your local museum might be a big help.

Let us know what you find out. This is one of my favorite periods of art so I'll be curious to know what you've got!

Very nice! As Boomerang said, keep us posted. Beautiful piece.