Terracotta figure, The Virgin with the Laughing Child, Italy (Florence), after 1460.

Terracotta figure of the Virgin holding a smiling Christ Child.

This sculpture, one of the most celebrated pieces in the Victoria and Albert Museum, has been attributed to a variety of fifteenth-century Florentine sculptors, including Antonio Rossellino (1427-1479), Desiderio da Settignano (1428-1464), Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), to whom it has been most recently reattributed (Caglioti 2019). The Christ Child resembles works by Desiderio, while there are connections with those by Rossellino, such as the Virgin and Child on the Cardinal of Portugal's tomb in San Miniato al Monte in Florence of 1461-66. The drapery and other elements also show links to drawn studies produced in Verrocchio's shop, and those attributed to Leonardo himself. Leonardo was deeply engaged in making sculpture, and the biographer and artist Giorgio Vasari recounts how, in his youth, Leonardo made in clay, 'some heads of women that are smiling...'. Unfortunately, some of his planned works were never achieved and we do not have any secure sculptures by the artist with which to make a comparison. The fascinating combination of styles within this sculpture, that has led to its shifting authorship, therefore needs further exploration.

The statuette has generally been considered to be a sketch-model for a larger work in marble, but it is more likely to have been one of the household images that were popular in Florence, now stripped of its painted surface, traces of which appear to remain. Thermoluminenscence testing can provide a guide as to when a terracotta was last fired. Tests undertaken on the sculpture indicate that the earliest date that it could have been fired is 1460, although the sculpture is likely to be later.

This sculpture is one of the most famous pieces in the Victoria and Albert Museum - and yet we are not certain who modelled it. The leading fifteenth-century Florentine sculptors Antonio Rossellino, Andrea del Verrocchio and Desiderio da Settignano are amongst those who have been named. The terracotta was for many years attributed to Rossellino, but when the sculpture was lent for the first time to an exhibition in Florence in spring 2019, scholars presented an attribution to the young Leonardo da Vinci, while he was in Verrocchio's workshop (c.1472). This idea was first put forward in 1899, and won favour for several years. The maker intriguingly combines stylistic elements from each of the named sculptors. But the emphasis on the human relationship between mother and child and the naturalistic treatment of the subject are typical of the time.

The statuette has generally been considered to be a sketch model for a larger marble group. However, it is probably one of the small-scale devotional objects that were so popular in Florentine homes, but now stripped of its naturalistic paint, traces of which appear to remain. Thermoluminenscence testing can provide a guide as to when a terracotta was last fired. Tests undertaken on the sculpture indicate that the earliest date is 1460, although the sculpture is likely to be later in date. Technical and art-historical research is continuing with the view to unravel more of the sculpture's unknown history.

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