Gregorio di Lorenzo (Florence circa 1436–1504) and Workshop

Count Avogli Trotti, Paris;

Collection of Mortimer Loeb Schiff (1877-1931), New York;

Thence by descent to his son, John Schiff (1904-1987), New York;

From whom acquired.

G. De Nicola, "Tommaso Fiamberti: il Maestro delle Madonne di Marmo" in Rassegna d'Arte,= XI, 1922, no. 76, pp. 73-81;

S. Rubenstein, "A relief in the Mortimer Schiff collection by the Master of the Marble Madonnas" in Art in America X, 1922, pp. 39-40;

A. Bellandi, Per un catalogo del Mastro delle madonne di marmo (sculture attivo dal circa 1470- circa 1500), University of Bologna, School of Art History, academic year 1997/1998, superviso Prof. Massimo Ferretti, p. 16, 1.8., fig. 8;

A. Bellandi, Gregorio di Lorenzo: Il Maestro delle Madonne in marmo, Morbio Inferiore 2010, p. 317, pl. III. 1. 14, reproduced.

Formerly referred to as the anonymous 'Master of the Marble Madonnas', a term coined by Wilhelm von Bode in the late 19th century, Gregorio di Lorenzo was an integral member of the core group of sculptors active in 15th-century Florence. His identity was not discovered until scholars at the close of the 20th century, primarily Alfredo Bellandi, began to associate his body of work with one Gregorio who trained in the workshop of Desiderio da Settignano. His diverse oeuvre includes Ecce Homo reliefs, busts of the infant Christ and Saint John, as well as two series of profile reliefs of the Twelve Caesars, which he executed for the courts of Naples and Ferrara. However, earning him his scholarly nickname, Gregorio is best known for his significant output of marble reliefs representing the Virgin and Child, of which examples are held in important public collections such as the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Gregorio emerged directly from the milieu of celebrated Quattrocento Florentine sculptors such as Donatello and Antonio Rossellino, who created highly influential prototypes of the Madonna and Child in relief. In his astonishingly varied but characteristic corpus of reliefs of this type, Gregorio developed a distinctive stylistic language which is clearly expressed in the present relief, allowing for an attribution to the master and his workshop.

This rather unusual relief in Gregorio's production, characterized by a mandorla shaped frame with seven cherubs and the dove of the Holy Spirit above, within which the Madonna holds the Child, lends itself to a comparison with the Marian relief in a private collection formerly in Turin (Bellandi 2010, op. Cit.,.III.1.6.). Another composition of a similar type, particularly in the use of the cherubs around the outer border and also dated to circa 1460 by Bellandi, is the Madonna and Child Blessing within a frame with six cherubs is in the Bode Museum in Berlin (Bellandi 2010, op. cit., III.1.40.). 

The typology of the Virgin can be compared to a similar relief at the Hermitage, dated ca. 1460 (Cf. Androsov 2010, p. 46, no. 29).

RELATED LITERATURE

S. Androsov, Museo statale Ermitage. La scultura italiana dal XIV to XVI secolo, Milan, 2010, p. 46, n. 29.