Cleveland Museum of Art

Madonna and Child

Lorenzo Ghiberti

Date

c. 1450

Medium

polychromed terracotta

Culture

Italy, Florence, 15th century

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This half-length Madonna represents one of the finest of about 40 surviving variants, all of which display many characteristics of the Florentine bronze sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. These features include serene facial types with narrow eyes and thin eyebrows, the careful arrangement of the Madonna and Child, forehead to cheek, and the infant's twisting pose. The popularity of this devotional relief began around 1420 and continued until around 1500. Ghiberti was the most successful bronze sculptor of the early Renaissance in Florence. His fame rests upon the commissions he received for two sets of bronze doors, completed between 1401 and 1424, for the Baptistry in Florence. The reclining figure of Eve on the base of this Madonna and Child (suggesting Mary as the new Eve) stems from a similar figure on the upper left door of the Porta del Paradiso, the second set of Baptistry doors. Eve's presence on the base clearly substantiates the attribution to Ghiberti and helps date the relief.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.