Madonna and Child
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Authors
Andrea Mantegna, circle of (Niccolò Pizzolo?)
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Madonna , Jesus , Mary , Virgin
Alternative Title
Abstract
This painted stone sculpture was a part of the rich gifts sent by the wealthy cleric, Roberto de Mabilia, from Padua, where he was studying and working, back to the cathedral of his native town, Montepeloso (now called Irsina) in Basilicata, where the statue still stands. Also sent as a part of this donation, which was celebrated in a sixteenth-century poem, were a painting by Andrea Mantegna of St. Euphemia (now in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples), and a series of objects still housed in the same church, including a relic of St. Euphemia, a painted stone statue of the saint, and a painted wood crucifix. The Mantegna painting is signed and dated 1454, and so this statue was likely made for the same donation at around the same time, ca. 1450. In this period, the Florentine sculptor Donatello was working on his great bronze altarpiece for the Santo in Padua, including a sculpture of the Madonna and Child (1448). This sculpture imitates Donatello's famous model, especially in the way in which Mary does not hold her baby on her lap or balanced on her hips, but out in front of her, as if presenting her child. Donatello's Mary is half-way between sitting on her throne and standing, as if she is rising and moving forward to address us. In this sculpture, in contrast, one foot is forward, as in Donatello's, but there is no such ambiguity -- Mary simply stands. Also following Donatello's example are the central flat vertical folds of fabric between the legs and the large columnar neck with a small head. The figures are also similar to those in some of Andrea Mantegna's paintings. In 1997, the sculpture was restored, and heavy later repaint was removed, revealing some traces of the original polychrome, as visible in these photographs. Some have attributed the sculpture to Mantegna himself, who almost exclusively known today as a great painter, but was recorded in his day and shortly afterwards as a successful sculptor as well. The style of the work makes it likely to have been created by a follower of Donatello working in Padua, perhaps Niccolò Pizzolo. The sculpture, carved out of stone from Nanto (a type of limestone), is not fully in the round, but rather in high relief, with an unfinished back, and so must always have been intended to stand in a niche. Seen from below, the elongated forms look less attenuated and more compact, and so perhaps the artist lengthened the proportions with the viewer's perspective in mind. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
Cathedral, Irsina (Montepeloso)
Citation
Clara Gelao, Andrea Mantegna scultore e la Sant'Eufemia di Montepeloso (Venice: Marsilio, 2013), 28-30.