Relief “Virgin with Child and Angels”. Italy, 15th-16th centuries. Bronze in its natural color and gold, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, enamel. At the center of the work, enthroned, is the figure of Mary, with a mantle draped over her shoulders and hair, holding the Child on her knee, who appears to be addressing one of the angels. The Virgin is sheltered by an ogee arch supported by turned columns and visually elevated by a series of steps. This composition achieves a striking contrast: the figure in dark bronze, against the lapis lazuli background, and the gilded bronze of the arch and its exterior. Beneath the steps appears an enameled heraldic shield with a key on an azure background. The kneeling angels flank this figure, and, appearing in dark bronze, visually share the status of religious figures with Mary, while their lower position lends greater prominence 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, and so on. Towards the outside, there is another lapis lazuli frame decorated at the corners with appliqués, giving way to the one made of carved and polychrome wood. Lapis lazuli is a semiprecious stone already known in the 7th millennium BC, found in deposits from the Caucasus to Mauritania. From the late Middle Ages onwards, its export to Europe increased, and its use became more frequent both as a pigment in paintings after being ground (resulting in the finest and most expensive of blues, and often of all colors), as well as for painting backgrounds, inlays in works of art, jewelry, and, a little later, in the well-known "hardstone work." The figure of Mary still shows an influence of Gothic models, albeit more European than Italian, along with elements that might already indicate a proximity to the Renaissance: while the nudity of Jesus is already depicted in Gothic works (Fra Angelico's Madonna with Angels), the creation of space through the interplay of drapery in front of Christ can be seen in more advanced paintings (Domenico Ghirlandaio's Virgin and Child, National Gallery, London); the presence of a powerful throne is frequently seen in Italian Madonnas of the Quattrocento (and earlier), but not quite as presented here. As for the landscape, it is necessary to compare it, for example, with that of the fresco of the Condottiero Guidoriccio by 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 worldwide, such as those preserved in the Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy, where coral also plays an important role. Also essential to mention are works such as the plaque of hard stones (including lapis lazuli) with a bronze relief of Mary and Child, made around 1580-1600 in Italy and held at the Art Institute of Chicago; the “Panorama della Piazza della Signoria” (Jacopo Bilivert, ca. 1599) in the Pitti Museum; and the “Banquet of the Gods,” based on a design by Guglielmo della Porta, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
· Size: 20x22,5x3,5
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Ref.: ZF0123