Madonna And Child

Madonna and Child

The Madonna of the Steps is Michelangelo’s earliest known work. It is carved in shallow relief, a technique often employed by the master-sculptor of the early 15th century, Donatello and others such as Desiderio da Settignano. While the Madonna is in profile, the easiest aspect for a shallow relief, the child displays a twisting motion that was to become characteristic of Michelangelo’s work. The Taddeo Tondo of 1502, shows the Christ Child frightened by a Bullfinch, a symbol of the Crucifixion. The lively form of the child was later adapted by Raphael in the Bridgewater Madonna. The Bruges Madonna was, at the time of its creation, unlike other such statues which show the Virgin proudly presenting her son. Here, the Christ Child, restrained by his mother’s clasping hand, is about to step off into the world. The Doni Tondo, depicting the Holy Family, has elements of all three previous works: the frieze of figures in the background has the appearance of a low-relief, while the circular shape and dynamic forms echo the Taddeo Tondo. The twisting motion present in the Bruges Madonna is accentuated in the painting. The painting heralds the forms, movement and colour that Michelangelo was to employ on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.