Madonna and Child by Carlo Crivelli, tempera and gold on wood, 1480. This perfectly preserved work is one of the artist's most exquisite pictures. Flemish painting may have inspired the remarkable precision of detail in the background, where turbaned figures (infidels) stroll. Trompe-l'oeil details are played against the doll-like prettiness of the Virgin. The apples and fly are symbols of sin and evil and are opposed to the cucumber and the goldfinch, symbols of redemption. Crivelli's signature is on what looks like a piece of paper attached to the watered-silk cloth with wax. A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. No image permeates Christian art as the image of the Madonna and child. While Mary may be referred to as "the Madonna" in other contexts, in art the term is applied specifically to an artwork in which Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, is the focus, and central figure of the picture. Mary and the infant Jesus may be surrounded by adoring angels or worshiping saints.