Lot 163: A FLORENTINE GILT AND POLYCHROME PAINTED STUCCO RELIEF OF THE MADONNA AND CHILD, FROM THE WORKSHOP OF LORENZO GHIBERTI (FLORENCE 1378-1455 FLORENCE), FIRST HALF 15TH CENTURY

modelled in high relief with the Virgin in half-length, her head inclined slightly downward and toward the infant and covered with a veil falling gently around her shoulders, her eyes downcast and rendering a benign expression, the Christ Child supported in her left arm and her right hand holding both of His hands, the Child's body covered in a blanket, His head also inclined downward and resting against the Virgin's cheek.

RELATED LITERATURE
F. Schottmüller, Italienischen und Spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barocks in Marmor, Ton, Holz und Stuck, Berlin 1913, fig. 6, p. 6.

Spunti per conversare, Galleria Nella Longari, Milano, 1998, no. 6, pp. 16-17.

height 21 1/2 in. width 14 in.; 54.6cm. 35.5cm.

The present relief is nearly identical to a group of painted terracotta reliefs also attributed to the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti. For these see Schottmüller (op. cit., fig. 6), Carlo de Carlo Collection: Part. II, sold Semenzato, Florence, April 18, 2001, Lot 135, and Nella Longari(op. cit., no. 6).

While the present variant is relatively uncommon, another composition, differing in the treatment of the Virgin's veil and the placement of the Child's legs, was more widely produced and has been sold in these rooms (see sale January 13, 1992, Lot 195). In the latter representation, the Child's body twists towards the Virgin and His left leg crosses His right to extend to the Virgin's right elbow.

Although he was trained as a painter, Lorenzo Ghiberti was one of the most celebrated Florentine sculptors of the early Renaissance. Ghiberti's sculptures are recognized for their graceful nature and economy of detail. Schottmüller describes the Madonna and Child relief in Berlin as Florentine, 1420 (op.cit., p.6). At this time and in the decade following, Ghiberti was completing his reliefs of the Baptism and St. John the Baptist for the Baptistery in Siena and embarking upon his most important commission, the Gates of Paradise, for the Baptistery in Florence. In order to obtain the latter appointment, Ghiberti had to compete with such quattrocento masters as Filippo Brunelleschi and Jacopo della Quercia of Siena.