The ''Madonna of the Stairs'' (or ''Madonna of the Steps'') is a
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
sculpture by
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
in the
Casa Buonarroti, Florence. It was sculpted around 1490, when Michelangelo was about fifteen. This and the ''
Battle of the Centaurs
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
'' were Michelangelo's first two sculptures. The first reference to the ''Madonna of the Stairs'' as a work by Michelangelo was in the 1568 edition of
Giorgio Vasari's ''
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...
''.
Madonna of the stairs in Casa Buonarroti
">Casa Buonarroti">Madonna of the stairs in Casa Buonarroti
The sculpture is exhibited at the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Italy.
Description
The work is an obvious homage to the stiacciato low reliefs of Donatello, as Vasari also noted, both in technique and sizes plans with millimeter thickness variations, both in iconography, starting from the scale pattern with pronounced steps and handrails foreshortened, visible for example in the ''Feast of Herod'' in Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
.
The figure of the Madonna, sitting on a square stone block, and in profile while looking away, occupies the entire height of the relief, from edge to edge, with a severity and monumentality reminiscent of classical reliefs. The composition of the sacred group is very original, at the same time blocked and dynamic, with the Virgin in a prophetic attitude, as she lifts her dress to feed or protect the child asleep, and generates a movement spiral thanks to the arrangement of opposite limbs. Jesus has let go of his arm behind his back and Mary comes to weave his feet, showing the right plant and breaking the stillness of the smooth surface of the bas-relief. The right hand of the Child turned out was later used more than once by the artist to symbolize the abandonment of the body in sleep or in death, as in the portrait of Lorenzo de 'Medici, Duke of Urbino or the Bandini Pietà and refers to the Farnese Hercules
The ''Farnese Hercules'' ( it, Ercole Farnese) is an ancient statue of Hercules, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown; the name is Greek but he may have worked in Rome. Like ...
(since by Michelangelo man is seen as Hercules).
Pronounced is the muscle of the Child and the taking of Mary, especially with large hands, thanks to the different treatment of the surfaces, make it appear vigorous simple, everyday gesture. Virtuoso is finally the fall of the drapery, especially on Cubic's seat, which follows form with great realism.
On the left, on the steps that give the name to the work, there are two putti
A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...
just blanks in attitude dance or fight and another who, leaning on the handrail, tents, along with a fourth figure placed behind the Virgin, a drape. It is difficult to determine the significance of this background scene, perhaps a simple exercise in style or a tribute to dancing putti Donatello.
See also
*List of works by Michelangelo
The following is a list of works of painting, sculpture and architecture by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Lost works are included, but not commissions that Michelangelo never made. Michelangelo also left many drawings, sketches, and ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
''Madonna of the Stairs''
– From the Official Site of Casa Buonarroti
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madonna Of The Stairs
Sculptures by Michelangelo
Statues of the Madonna and Child
1490 sculptures
Marble sculptures in Italy
category:Sculptures in Florence