The ''Virgin and Child with Four Angels'', also known as the ''Chellini Madonna'', is a bronze roundel by the Florentine artist

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Florence, he studied classical sculpture and used this to develop a complete Renaissance st ...

in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London. The roundel was given by Donatello to his doctor Giovanni Chellini in 1456. This was documented in the physician's account book on 27 August 1456: "while I was treating Donato called Donatello, the singular and principal master in making figures of bronze of wood and terracotta... he of his kindness and in consideration of the medical treatment which I had given and was giving for his illness gave me a roundel the size of a trencher in which was sculpted the Virgin Mary with the Child at her neck and two angels on each side." The reverse of the roundel is hollowed out, creating a mould for casting

replica A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...

s of the image in molten

glass Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...

. In order to test out this unique feature, copies of the roundel were made from which glass versions were cast.

Bibliography

External links

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Online catalogue entry
(Victoria and Albert Museum) {{Donatello Sculptures of the Victoria and Albert Museum Sculptures by Donatello Virgin Mary in art Jesus in art Angels in art