Madonna di Terrarossa
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Authors
Stefano da Putignano
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Madonna and Child , Mary , Virgin , Jesus , Christ
Alternative Title
Abstract
This Madonna and Child by Stefano da Putignano (Chiesa Matrice, Turi) shows the Virgin seated in a throne and wrapped in a large mantle, which drapes so as to create a visual emphasis on the Christ Child on her lap, almost the fabric equivalent of a mandorla. The artist seems more concerned with displaying Jesus elegantly than creating a convincing sense of his weight being supported on his mother's lap. The Virgin is flanked by angels, who hold a cloth behind her shoulders. The sculpture balances intimacy (in the natural and tender way the mother holds her squirming child) and magnificence (in the richly decorated abundant drapery, throne, and tassled cushion), making the Madonna both a human mother and Queen of Heaven. Compared to Stefano's sculptures of the Madonna and Child located in Santa Maria del Scoccorso in Monopoli and the Chiesa Matrice in Noci, this sculpture appears more refined and anatomically correct in its proportions. The original polychromy and gilding have been preserved particularly well for a Pugliese sculpture (darkened by dirt and atmospheric agents, but otherwise intact). The sculpture, now above the first altar on the left of the church, was originally in another chapel in the same church. At the time of its relocation the sculpture was assigned the iconographic significance of the Virgin of the Rosary. The inscription on the base of the statue was obscured by layers of lime until it was cleaned in the 1940s, at which point Stefano da Putignano's name and the name of the patron, Giovanni Antonio Zanfino (mayor of Turi 1506-1517), were revealed. Unusually, Baby Jesus is dressed -- Gelao has suggested that Stefano was looking at Alvise Vivarini's Madonna and Child Enthroned in S. Andrea a Barletta as a model. Or perhaps the clothing for Baby Jesus was something requested by the patron. By the seventeenth century, this sculpture was known as the Madonna di Terrarossa and the focus of a great deal of devotion, in terms of gifts, offerings, ornaments for the chapel, and the almost continuous saying of the mass at this altar. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Chiesa Matrice, Turi
Citation
Clara Gelao, Stefano da Putignano ""virtuoso"" scultore del rinascimento (Bari: Mario Adda, 2020), 97-101; Clara Gelao, Stefano da Putignano nella scultura pugliese del rinascimento (Fasano di Brindisi: Schena, 1990), cat. 14, pp. 79-80; Scultura del rinascimento in Puglia, ed. Clara Gelao (Bari: Edipuglia, 2004); p. 28; ""La Madonna di Terrarossa a Turi -- documenti e scoperti,"" https://turinlinea.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/la-madonna-di-terrarossa-a-turi-documenti-e-scoperte/ Accessed Aug. 18, 2021.