”MADONNA WITH CHILD AND ANGELS”. BRONZE AND LAPIS LAZULI. ITALY, 15TH-16TH CENTURIES.

Relief “Virgin with Child and angels”. Italy, 15th-16th centuries. Bronze in its color and gold, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, enamel. In the center of the work, the figure of Mary is presented, enthroned, with a cloak over her shoulders and hair and holding the Child on her knees, who appears addressing one of the angels. The Virgin is also sheltered by an ogee arch supported by turned columns, and visually elevated by some steps. This composition achieves a very striking contrast: the figure in dark bronze, in contrast with the lapis lazuli background and the part of the arch and its exterior, in golden bronze. Under the steps appears an enamel heraldic shield with a key on an azure background. The kneeling angels are flanking this figure, and, appearing in dark bronze, visually share the “category” of religious figures with Mary, while their (lower) position gives greater status to both the Mother and Jesus. The rest of the composition is completed with a delicate landscape: buildings and walls on mountains, clouds in the sky, plants, stones, etc. Towards the outside, there is another lapis lazuli frame decorated in the corners with appliqués, giving way to the carved and polychrome wooden one. Lapis lazuli is a semiprecious stone already known in the 7th millennium BC. C., found in sites from the Caucasus to Mauritania. From the end of the Middle Ages onwards, its export to Europe increased, and since then its use has been more frequent both for use as a pigment in paintings after grinding it (giving rise to the finest and most expensive of blues, and of colors in many cases ), such as for backgrounds of paintings, inlays in works of art, jewelry and, a little later, in the well-known “hard stone works.” The figure of Mary still shows an influence of Gothic models, although more European than Italian, along with elements that could already show a closeness to the Renaissance: although the nudity of Jesus is already shown in Gothic works (Madonna with angels by Fra Angelico ), the creation of space through playing with the cloth in front of Christ can be seen in more advanced paintings (Madonna with Child by Domenico Ghirlandaio, National Gallery, London); The presence of a powerful throne can be seen frequently in Italian Madonnas of the Quattrocento (and earlier), but not quite as presented here. As for the landscape, it must be compared, for example, with that of the fresco by the Condotiero Guidoriccio of Fogliano (Simone Martini, completed in 1328). This is a work of great technical and aesthetic quality, not to mention the materials chosen for its creation, comparable only to outstanding examples from around the world, such as those preserved in the Madama Palace in Turin (Italy), in which the coral It also has an important role. It is also essential to mention works such as the hard stone plaque (lapis lazuli among them) with a bronze relief of Mary with the Child, made around 1580-1600 in Italy and preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago; or the “Panorama della Piazza della Signoria” (Jacopo Bilivert, ca. 1599) from the Pitti Museum; or the “Banquet of the Gods”, which follows a design by Guglielmo della Porta, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

· Size: 20x22,5x3,5