MAESTRO FROM THE 19TH CENTURY, AFTER DONATELLO
The Madonna with the Child and the donor
marble bas-relief, cm 86 diameter
The extraordinary rediscovery of the origins of Italian art, from the Middle Ages to the early Renaissance, that occurred starting from the end of the eighteenth century, led to the creation of a number of works which echoed more or less strongly that ancient style.
In this case, the Madonna with the Child in front of whom the man who likely commissioned the work kneels, is a relief clearly inspired by the Italian art of the mid-fifteenth century, as stated by the date “1449” in Gothic script that is engraved in the interstices created by the trefoil arches that frame the protagonists. The artist seems to have found great inspiration in Donatello’s art, who was in Padua between the fifth and the sixth decade of the fifteenth century, and in his following in Northern Italy, such as Pietro Lombardo, sculptor active mostly in Venice, who was in the city of Saint Anthony around the half of the century.
