Virgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia thumbnail 1
Virgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 50a, The Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery

Virgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia

Relief
ca. 1445 - 1450 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The relief was carved by Bartolommeo Buon in about 1374-1467 for the tympanum (the space between the lintel and arch) over the principal doorway of the Scuola Vecchia di Santa Maria della Misericordia in Venice. It is described in this position by Sansovino. The sculpture was originally painted and slight traces of blue paint remain in the background. The Virgin once wore a high crown. The motif of the Christ Child in a mandorla on the Virgin's chest is of Byzantine origin and occurs on other works produced in Venice around this date. Some areas are made up in plaster, including the top of the arch above the Virgin's head. The Buon were the most important Venetian sculptors during the first half of the fifteenth century. Bartolommeo inherited the workshop on the death of his father, Giovanni, in about 1443. In 1612 the Scuola Vecchia della Misericordia was handed over to the Tessitori di Seta, and the relief was transferred, with other sculptures, to the Fabbrica Nuova della Misericordia, where it remained until the early 19th century.

The mandorla (from the Italian word for ‘almond’) was a type of halo that enclosed the entire body. It was usually used to depict moments that transcend time and space, such as Christ enthroned in Heaven in majesty. Here the mandorla forms a morse, or brooch, to clasp the Virgin’s cloak.

A Venetian ‘Scuola’, or confraternity, commissioned this sculpture to sit over the entrance to their meeting house. Members of the confraternity shelter under the Virgin’s cloak. Surrounding the Virgin are prophets seated in the Tree of Jesse. They hold scrolls announcing the Coming of Christ, who is shown as a baby on the Virgin’s breast. The pointed arch reflects the Gothic style of the original setting. Bartolomeo Buon was a member of the confraternity and one of the most important sculptors in Renaissance Venice.



Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 11 parts.

  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
  • Relief
TitleVirgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Istrian stone, carved from six blocks
Brief description
Relief, Istrian Stone, of the Virgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia, by Bartolomeo Buon, Italy (Venice), ca. 1445-50
Physical description
Arched relief in Istrian stone of the Virgin and Child with kneeling members of the Guild of the Misericordia. The Virgin, represented standing in full face, wears an ample mantle fastened on her breast by an almond-shaped medallion (mandorla) with a naked figure of the Christ Child blessing. She holds her mantle open with both hands; its extremities are supported by standing angels to right and left. Beneath the cloak are nine kneeling members of the Guild of Santa Maria della Misericordia in attitudes of prayer, four on the right and five on the left. In the branches of the fig tree which forms the background are six busts of kings and prophets holding scrolls.
Dimensions
  • Height: 251.5cm
  • Width: 208.3cm
  • Depth: 50cm
  • Weight: 6932kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Object history
The relief was carved for the tympanum (the space between the lintel and arch) over the principal doorway of the Scuola Vecchia di Santa Maria della Misericordia in Venice. The sculpture was originally painted and traces of paint remain in the background. The Virgin once wore a high crown. The motif of the Christ Child in a mandorla on the Virgin's chest is of Byzantine origin and occurs on other works produced in Venice around this date. Some areas are made up in order to signal the original shape of the tympanum, which had been moved twice before it was bought for the Museum in 1882. The Bon were the most important Venetian sculptors during the first half of the fifteenth century. Bartolommeo inherited the workshop on the death of his father, Giovanni, in about 1443.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The relief was carved by Bartolommeo Buon in about 1374-1467 for the tympanum (the space between the lintel and arch) over the principal doorway of the Scuola Vecchia di Santa Maria della Misericordia in Venice. It is described in this position by Sansovino. The sculpture was originally painted and slight traces of blue paint remain in the background. The Virgin once wore a high crown. The motif of the Christ Child in a mandorla on the Virgin's chest is of Byzantine origin and occurs on other works produced in Venice around this date. Some areas are made up in plaster, including the top of the arch above the Virgin's head. The Buon were the most important Venetian sculptors during the first half of the fifteenth century. Bartolommeo inherited the workshop on the death of his father, Giovanni, in about 1443. In 1612 the Scuola Vecchia della Misericordia was handed over to the Tessitori di Seta, and the relief was transferred, with other sculptures, to the Fabbrica Nuova della Misericordia, where it remained until the early 19th century.

The mandorla (from the Italian word for ‘almond’) was a type of halo that enclosed the entire body. It was usually used to depict moments that transcend time and space, such as Christ enthroned in Heaven in majesty. Here the mandorla forms a morse, or brooch, to clasp the Virgin’s cloak.

A Venetian ‘Scuola’, or confraternity, commissioned this sculpture to sit over the entrance to their meeting house. Members of the confraternity shelter under the Virgin’s cloak. Surrounding the Virgin are prophets seated in the Tree of Jesse. They hold scrolls announcing the Coming of Christ, who is shown as a baby on the Virgin’s breast. The pointed arch reflects the Gothic style of the original setting. Bartolomeo Buon was a member of the confraternity and one of the most important sculptors in Renaissance Venice.

Bibliographic references
  • Robinson, J. C., Letter of 24 October, 1883, The Times
  • Fiocco, G., "I Lamberti a Venezia: III, Imitatori e seguaci," Dedalo,viii, 1927-28
  • Fiocco, G., Rivista d'arte, xii, 1930, p. 155
  • Maclagan, E. and Longhurst, M., Catalogue of Italian Sculpture, London: Victoria and Albert, 1932, p. 100
  • Planiscig, L., "Die Bildhauer Venedigs in der ersten Hälfte des Quattrocento," Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, iv, 1930, pp. 108-110
  • Seymour, C., Sculpture in Italy 1400-1500 (The Pelican History of Art), Harmondsworth, 1966, p. 103
  • Pope-Hennessy, J. assisted by Lightbrown, R., Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1964, cat. 369
  • Wolters, W., La scultura veneziana gotica (1300-1460), Venice: Alfieri, 1976, cat. 250, pp. 290-291, fig. 831
  • Schulz, A., The Sculpture of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon and their Workshop, Philadelphia: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1978, pp. 12-25, figs. 10-20
  • Schulz, A. , "Revising the History of Venetian Renaissance Sculpture: Niccolò and Pietro Lamberti," in Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'Arte, 15, 1986, p. 12, n. 9
  • Williamson, P. (ed.) European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum,, London, 1996, pp. 74-75
  • Grevembroch in Monumenta Veneta ex antiques ruderibus Templorum, aliarumque Aedium Vetustate collapsarum collecta studio et cura Petri Gradonici Jacobi Sen: F. Anno MDCCLIV, MS in Biblioteca Correr, Venice, pars secunda, c. 43
  • Raggio, Olga, 'Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Art Bulletin vol.L, 1968, pp. 99
  • Sansovino, Francesco. Venetia citta nobilissima e singolare. Venice, 1663, pp. 285-6
  • Lorenzetti. Venezia e il su estuario. Venice, 1926, pp. 392-3
  • Venezia e le sue lagune. ii, pt. 2, Venice, 1847, pp. 287-8
  • Moschini. Nuova guida per Venezia. Venice, 1828, pp. 130
  • Il forestiere istruito nelle cose più pregevoli e curiose antiche e moderne della Città di Venezia. Venice, 1819, p. 322
  • La Venezia. 09/04/1882
  • Fiocco, Rivista d'Arte. XII, 1930, p. 155, fig. 6
  • Fiocco, G, 'I Lamberti a Venezia-iii, imitatori e seguaci', in Dedalo. VIII, 1927-8, fig, pp. 441-2
  • Perdrizet, La Vierge de Misercorde. 1908, p. 86, no. 38
  • Molmenti. Storia di Venezia nella Vita Privata. I, 1905, pp. 192-4
  • La scuola grande di San Marco. 1929, p. 24
  • Paoletti, E Il fiore di Venezia. iii, Venice, 1840, pp. 18-20
  • Paoletti, L'architecttura e la scultura….in Venezia. 1893, pp. 55-6, pl. viii, fig 2
  • Kraus, Geschicte der christliche Kunst. 1891, II, pt I, fig. 268
  • Cicognara, L. Storia della scultura dal suo Risorgimento in Italia fino al secolo di Canova. II, p. 171, pl. 39
  • List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1882. London, 1883, pp. 3
  • Motture, P., Jones, E. and Zikos, D., ed. by, Carvings, Casts and Collectors: The Art of Renaissance Sculpture, London, 2013, 2nd ed. 2014, Plate 1, pp. 16, 18-21
  • Motture, Peta and Borges, Victor Hugo Lopez Borges, 'A Venetian tympanum of the "Madonna della Misericordia" by Bartolomeo Bon', The Burlington Magazine,vol. CLI, (Nov. 2009), no. 1280, pp. 746-54
Collection
Accession number
25-1882

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Record createdFebruary 12, 2004
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