The Virgin and Child (Dudley Madonna) thumbnail 1
The Virgin and Child (Dudley Madonna) thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 64a, The Robert H. Smith Gallery

The Virgin and Child (Dudley Madonna)

Relief
ca. 1450 - 1460 (made)
Artist/Maker
Desiderio Da Settignano
Place of origin
Florence (made)

The relief is carved using the difficult technique known in Italian as 'rilievo schiacciato' or 'squashed relief'. The great Florentine fifteenth-century sculptor Donatello was credited with inventing this technique, and the relief has been associated with a lost work by him. However, it is more likely to be the work of his younger contemporary Desiderio da Settignano.

Object details

Categories
Access_to_Images 2003
Sculpture
Christianity
SCRAN
Object type
Relief
TitleThe Virgin and Child (Dudley Madonna) (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Carved marble
Marble
Carving
Brief description
Relief, 'The Virgin and Child (Dudley Madonna)', marble carved in rilievo schiacciato, probably by Desidero da Settignano, Florence, ca. 1450-1460.
Physical description
Low relief in marble, depicting the Virgin and Child. The Virgin is seated facing to the right and with head inclined toward the Child, who raises both arms to clutch her robe.
Dimensions
  • Height: 27.2cm
  • Width: 16.5cm
  • Depth: 4.2cm (Note: Measured for the Donatello exhibition (2022-2023))
  • Whole object weight: 6.40kg (Note: )
Weighed for the Donatello Exhibition (Palazzo Strozzi, Staatlisches Museen, V&A) 2022-2023
Gallery label
The design of this intimate scene was popular in the Renaissance, with versions existing in various media. This sculpture has long been thought to be by Desiderio da Settignano, a younger contemporary of Donatello who emulated the elder artist’s manner of carving in extraordinarily shallow relief. Some scholars instead identify it as being by Donatello himself, connecting it with a small marble highly praised by the biographer Giorgio Vasari (label last updated June 2024).(04/06/2024)
Credit line
Purchased with the aid of contributions from Sir Joseph Duveen and Art Fund
Subjects depicted
Mother
Saint
Infant
Deity
Mary (Virgin Mary)
Jesus Christ
Summary
The relief is carved using the difficult technique known in Italian as 'rilievo schiacciato' or 'squashed relief'. The great Florentine fifteenth-century sculptor Donatello was credited with inventing this technique, and the relief has been associated with a lost work by him. However, it is more likely to be the work of his younger contemporary Desiderio da Settignano.
Bibliographic references
  • Motture, Peta, ed., Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance, London: V&A Publishing, 2023. p. 251, cat. 6.20, entry by Whitney Kerr-Lewis and Peta Motture, Attribution: possibly after a design by Donatello or Desiderio da Settignano
  • Rowley, Neville, ed., Donatello: Inventor of the Renaissance, Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2022. pp. 182-183, cat. 27, entry by Laura Cavazzini, Attribution: Donatello
  • Caglioti, Francesco, ed., with Laura Cavazzini, Aldo Galli, and Neville Rowley. Donatello: il Rinascimento, Venice: Marsilio, 2022. pp. 398-401 (Francesco Caglioti), pp. 402-403, cat. 14.1, entry by Laura Cavazzini, Attribution: Donatello
  • Bormand, M., Strozzi, B. P. and Penny, N., eds. Desiderio da Settignano. Sculptor of Renaissance Florence. 2007. p. 101. note. 4. Catalogue of the exhibition held in Musée du Louvre, Paris; Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence; National Gallery of Art, Washington.
  • Sénéchal, Philippe, Giovan Francesco Rustici, 1475-1554: un sculpteur de la Renaissance entre Florence et Paris, Paris, 2007, pp. 36, 38, fig. 28.
  • Naldi, Riccardo, Andrea Ferrucci: marmi gentili tra la Toscana e Napoli, Naples, 2002, pp. 173, 199, fig. 209.
  • Laschke, B. Fra Giovan Angelo da Montorsoli: ein Florentiner Bildhauer des 16. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Mann, 1993. p. 36. note. 20.
  • Acidini, Cristina (ed.), Renaissance Florence : the Age of Lorenzo de' Medici, 1449-1492, Milano ; Firenze : Charta, 1993
  • Avery, C. Donatello's marble narrative reliefs. Le vie del marmo. Aspetti della produzione e della diffusione dei manufatti marmorei tra Quattrocento e Cinquecento. Centro Culturale L. Russo, 3 October 1992. pp. 10-11. note. 15. Illus. 8.
  • Drapers, J. D. Bertoldo di Giovanni: sculptor of the Medici household; critical reappraisal and catalogue raisonné. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992. p. 41. note. 7.
  • Barocchi, Paola (ed.), Il Giardino di San Marco. Maestri e compagni del giovane Michelangelo, Firenze : Silvana Editoriale, 1992 pp. 72-78, cat. 14, entry by Francesco Caglioti Attribution: Donatello
  • The genius of the sculptor in Michaelangelo's work. Montreal, 1992. pp. 28-29. Catalogue of the exhibition held in Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
  • Androsov, S. O. Desiderio da Settignano and his works in the Hermitage. Reports from the State Hermitage. XXII, 1982. p. 13. n. 14.
  • Olga Raggio. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art Bulleting. vol. L. 1968. p. 101.
  • Seymour, C. jr. Sculpture in Italy: 1400-1500. Harmondsworth/Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1966. p. 240. note. 21.
  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: HMSO, 1964. cat. no. 114. fig. no. 135.
  • Cardellini, Ida. Desiderio da Settignano. Milan, 1962. no. 298. pp. 72, 74, 246-247.
  • Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. London, 1932. p. 42.
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.84-1927

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Record createdMarch 5, 2004
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O96302/the-virgin-and-child-dudley-relief-desiderio-da-settignano/
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