CIRCLE OF DONATELLO (1386 - 1466) PADUA, CIRCA 1450 | MADONNA AND CHILD

This heretofore unpublished work, of which no other replicas or casts are known in the vast Marian production of the 15^th century, was shaped by 'direct modeling', without making use of a mold, as evidenced by the deep undercutting in various areas of the relief. It is clear from the reverse of the sculpture that the clay was modeled on a wood board, a technique consistent with Donatello and unlike many 15^th century sculptors who thinned or excavated their reliefs on the back to reduce the risk of firing cracks.

The distinctly Donatellian appearance of the relief is also apparent in the composition, characterized by the benevolent and welcoming gesture of the Virgin’s outstretched hand turned towards the observer. This gesture depends on a design by Donatello, associated with his time in Padua between 1444 and 1453, which enjoyed widespread popularity and is known in stucco, bronze and marble variants. The position of the arm is also echoed in Donatello’s statue of Saint Justina in the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua made around 1450. 

Another well-known example of this typology, which is thought to have been developed by Donatello around 1430, is a gilt bronze plaque, an example of which is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (fig. 1), attributed to a student engaged in Donatello’s Paduan workshop. Some of the extant marble versions of the Washington composition are thought to have been executed by different sculptors in the master’s circle, including Andrea Guardi (Florence 1405 ca.- Pisa 1476) who trained in Donatello's in the 1420s. Significantly, the present composition with the Virgin to the left and the Child standing on a ledge taking a step forward with His right foot is analogous to marble Madonna and Child relief on the monument of Cardinal Rinaldo Brancacci in the Neapolitan church of Sant'Angelo a Nilo, produced in Pisa in 1426-28 by Donatello in collaboration with Michelozzo, Pagno di Lapo Portigiani, and possibly with Andrea Guardi (fig. 2).

Furthermore, the perforated railing or parapet that creates an illusion of space repeats the railing in Donatello’s stucco medallions of the Old Sacristy (c. 1440), in the Chellini Madonna bronze relief in the Victoria and Albert Museum (1456), and in the relief depicting Christ to the Limbo on the pulpit in San Lorenzo, Florence (1465).

This relief clearly displays recurrent stylistic features seen in Donatello’s works and may have been executed in the workshop of the master. The polychromy is attributable to Neri di Bicci (Florence 1418 - 1492) whose collaboration with Donatello's workshop was recently recognized in other Donatellian reliefs.

RELATED LITERATURE

R. W. Lightbrown, Donatello & Michelozzo: an artistic partnership and its patrons in the early Renaissance, 2 vols., London, 1980 

Andrea Guardi, Uno scultore di costa nell'Italia del Quattrocento, Pisa, 2015;

This lot is sold with a copy of a Thermoluminescence test conducted by Art-Test arte & diagnostic indicating that the last firing of this relief (sample IARD17) is consistent with the proposed age of late 15th century.