Relief “Virgin and Child with Angels”. Italy, 15th-16th centuries. Bronze in its color and gold, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, enamel. In the centre of the work, the enthroned figure of Mary is shown, with a cloak over her shoulders and hair and holding the Child on her knees, who appears to be addressing one of the angels. The Virgin is also sheltered by an ogee arch supported by turned columns and elevated visually by steps. This composition achieves a very striking contrast: the figure in dark bronze, in contrast with the lapis lazuli background and the part of the arch and its exterior, in gilded bronze. Below the steps appears a heraldic shield in enamel with a key on an azure background. The kneeling angels are flanking this figure, and, as they appear in dark bronze, they visually share the “category” of religious figures with Mary, while their (lower) position gives greater status to both the Mother and Jesus. The rest of the composition is completed with a delicate landscape: buildings and walls on mountains, clouds in the sky, plants, stones, etc. Towards the outside, there is another lapis lazuli frame decorated in the corners with appliqués, giving way to the carved and polychrome wood frame. Lapis lazuli is a semi-precious stone that was already known in the 7th millennium BC, found in deposits from the Caucasus to Mauritania. From the end of the Middle Ages, its export to Europe increased, and it was used more frequently since then both as a pigment in paintings after being ground (giving rise to the finest and most expensive of blues, and of colours in many cases), as a background for paintings, inlays in works of art, jewellery and, a little later, in the well-known “hard stone works”. The figure of Mary still shows an influence of Gothic models, although more European than Italian, together with elements that could already indicate a closeness to the Renaissance: although the nakedness of Jesus is already shown in Gothic works (Madonna with Angels by Fra Angelico), the creation of space by means of the play with the cloth in front of Christ can be appreciated in more advanced paintings (Madonna and Child by Domenico Ghirlandaio, National Gallery, London); the presence of a powerful throne can frequently be seen in Italian Madonnas of the Quattrocento (and before), but not quite as it is presented here. As for the landscape, it should be compared, for example, with that of the fresco by Condottiero Guidoriccio of Fogliano (Simone Martini, finished in 1328). This is a work of great technical and aesthetic quality, not to mention the materials chosen for its creation, comparable only to outstanding examples from around the world, such as those preserved in the Palazzo Madama in Turin (Italy), in which coral also plays an important role. Also worth mentioning are works such as the plaque of hard stones (lapis lazuli among them) with a relief of Mary and Child in bronze, made around 1580-1600 in Italy and preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago; or the “Panorama della Piazza della Signoria” (Jacopo Bilivert, ca. 1599) from the Pitti Museum; or the “Banquet of the Gods”, based on a design by Guglielmo della Porta, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
· Size: 20x22,5x3,5
ANTIQUES
Ref.: ZF0123
