Italian, 16th centuy, after Donatello (circa 1386-1466)

Blumka Gallery, New York ;

Acquired from the above by Paul W. Doll, Jr. ;

His sale, Christie's New York, 20 October 2020, lot 118.

The composition of this Virgin and Child derives from the Madonna della Mela, dating from around 1422–25, a model now attributed to Donatello in the Museo Stefano Bardini (Florence, inv. MCF-MB 1922-682). In the present example, the apple held in the right hand of the terracotta Virgin in Florence, symbolising the future Redeemer, is replaced by a piece of her veil in which the Child has taken refuge. The Virgin's strongly inclined face indicates that she was probably intended for a high niche, from where she could dominate the assembly of the faithful. Donatello offers here an innovative type of representation of the Virgin; she appears as a mother tenderly protecting her frightened son, in a moment of resistance to the inevitable sacrifice that lies ahead.

This Madonna and Child comes from the collection of Paul W. Doll (1926–2020), a renowned New York collector of medieval and Renaissance sculpture who gifted several pieces to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

RELATED LITERATURE

P. Motture (dir.), Donatello. Sculpting the Renaissance, exh. cat. Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2023, pp. 168-169 ;

A. Nesi (dir.), Museo Stefano Bardini, Florence, 2011, pp. 66-67 et 210.