Pazzi Madonna

The Pazzi Madonna
ArtistDonatello
Year1420 or 1422
CatalogueInv. 51
Mediummarble relief sculpture
Dimensions74,5 cm × 73 cm × 6,5 cm (29,3 in × 27,3 in × 26 in)
LocationBode-Museum, Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, Berlin
OwnerStaatliche Museen zu Berlin

The Pazzi Madonna is a rectangular "stiacciato" marble relief sculpture by Donatello, since 1886 in the sculpture collections of the Bode-Museum in Berlin.[1][2] Dating to around 1420 and 1425[3] at the beginning of Donatello's collaboration with Michelozzo, it was most likely produced for private devotion and possibly commissioned by the Pazzi family for their home in Florence.[4] The composition was very popular and is known in several copies.

The half figure of Virgin Mary is shown in three-quarter-view, the faces of both mother and child are in profile, with her leaning towards the Christ Child and touching his forehead, her silhouette slightly obscuring his. She holds the baby with her left arm, the hand with braced fingers perspectivally foreshortened, the right hand softly pressing against its shoulder. Neither of them are shown with halos and the emphasis is instead on their tender and intense intimacy, developing themes from the Eleusa-type icon in Byzantine art. The smiling child reaches out his arm to his mother, but their expressions often are described as melancholy, with the suggestion that the Virgin is reflecting on her son's future Passion.

  • Relief in frame as displayed
    Relief in frame as displayed
  • Close-up of heads
    Close-up of heads
  • Detail in lateral view
    Detail in lateral view
  • Copy in architectural framing all'antica, Paris, Louvre (Inv. RF 744)
    Copy in architectural framing all'antica, Paris, Louvre (Inv. RF 744)

References

  1. ^ Catalogue entry with extensive text by Neville Rowley and bibliography.
  2. ^ (in Italian) AA.VV., La collezione di sculture al Bode-Museum, Prestel, Monaco di Baviera, 2011. ISBN 978-3-7913-4260-3
  3. ^ Coonin, p. 101–103, ca. 1420 according to Berlin online catalogue, the most recent catalogues for the major 2022 exhibition in Florence (cat. 4.1, p. 170) and Berlin (cat. 14, p. 150) state ca. 1422.
  4. ^ Rolf C. Wirtz, Donatello, Masters of Italian Art series, Könemann, Cologne 1998. ISBN 3-8290-0244-0 p. ??.

Literature

  • Coonin, A. Victor (2019). Donatello and the Dawn of Renaissance Art. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78914-130-6.
  • Francesco Caglioti with Laura Cavazzini, Aldo Galli and Neville Rowley (2022). Donatello. The Renaissance. Venice: Marsilio Arte. ISBN 979-12-5463-006-8.
  • Neville Rowley with Francesco Caglioti, Laura Cavazzini and Aldo Galli (2022). Donatello. Erfinder der Renaissance. Leipzig: E.A. Seemann. ISBN 978-3-86502-482-4.