I don't really like the look of religious iconographic art; however, this particular painting interests me.
Pasty Mary is not that appealing, nor is Jesus, which kind of flops there like a dead fish.
The thing that interests me is the randomness of having these figures, which are usually depicted on dominating thrones, in the middle of a field with cows and peasants. This isn't random of Bellini of course; the intent was to lure low class nonbelievers like me to feel a closer connection to the goddess and babe by placing them in a familiar setting. To not freak anybody out, civilization is represented in the background by a cityscape in the horizon. Meanwhile, the black crow (which is proportionally the size of a turkey) lurks in the background, somehow not weighing down that twig its resting on.
Of course I won't interpret this as an art historian would, which might say that Mary is praying for the well-being of the impoverished workers that face a hard-life and may come up against death (the plague, who knows).
If I was a peasant, and I was looking at this painting, this is how I would relate to it, the same as if in modern times:
Angelina Jolie and her 12 billion kids sat in her lap while she wore a luxurious ballgown, which marvelously draped around her to prevent her from facing the winter's harsh winds, while sitting around in the middle of nowhere, with hints of impoverished humanity working in a sweatshop behind her tirelessly.
I would probably think: why are you sitting in the dirt with that dress, why are all of your fabulous children that inherited a god-like status naked and miserable-looking, and what are you going to do with your back to reality while I'm working my ass off for nothing, and probably going to die according to the fattest crow I've ever seen in my life levitating on a branch next to me?
What I like about this painting:
-milky flesh tone of baby, next to washed out reds and blues mixed with that ocker
-the first glance randomness of the placement of religion icons (like putting buddha on a tour bus)
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