Taddei Tondo
| Taddei Tondo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Michelangelo |
| Year | c. 1504–05 |
| Type | Carrara marble |
| Dimensions | diameter 106.8 centimetres (42.0 in), depth of carving 7.5 centimetres (3.0 in) to 22 centimetres (8.7 in) |
| Location | Royal Academy, London |
The Taddei Tondo or The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John is a marble relief tondo (circular composition) by Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. Part of the permanent collection of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, it is the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo in Great Britain.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Physical history
The tondo dates to Michelangelo's time in Florence before his move to Rome in 1505. According to Vasari, while working on his David, "also at this time he blocked out but did not finish two marble tondi, one for Taddeo Taddei, today in his house, and for Bartolomeo Pitti he began another... which works were considered outstanding and marvellous".[8][note 1]
The tondo was acquried in Rome from Jean-Baptiste Wicar by Sir George Beaumont during a visit to Italy in 1822 and left to the Academy in 1830. Initially installed at Somerset House, the tondo moved with the Academy to the east wing of the new National Gallery building in 1836, where it remained until the Academy moved to Burlington House in 1868. It has been housed and displayed in various locations there ever since, except for an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1960. The discovery of a hairline crack running through the upper half of the marble contributed to the decision to provide a permanent home for the tondo. Since the opening of the Sackler Wing of Galleries in 1991, the tondo has been on display in a purpose-built area, positioned for reasons of preventive conservation behind protective glass, to combat the effects of air pollution and the possibility of vandalism.[4][9]
Description and interpretation
The tondo represents a seated Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus who is sprawled across her lap and looking back over his right shoulder towards the infant St John the Baptist who is standing over him and offering him a bird.
Reception and influence
Shortly after its arrival in England, the tondo was sketched by Wilkie, who wrote to Beaumont "your important acquisition of the basso-relievo of Michael Angelo is still the chief talk of all our artists. It is indeed a great addition to our stock of art, and is the only work that has appeared in this northern latitude to justify the great reputation of its author".[10] Cockerell noted in his diary how "the subject seems growing from the marble & emerging into life. It assumes by degrees its shape, features from an unformed mass, as it were you trace & watch its birth from the sculptor's mind".[1] Shortly after its arrival at the Royal Academy, the tondo was sketched by Constable, who published a letter in the Athenaeum of 3 July 1830 praising the way it was lit, "showing the more finished parts to advantage, and causing those less perfect to become masses of shadow, having at a distance all the effect of a rich picture in chiaroscuro".[11]
See also
Notes
- ^ "et ancora in questo tempo abbozzò e non finì due tondi di marmo, uno a Taddeo Taddei, oggi in casa sua, et a Bartolomeo Pitti ne cominciò un altro... le quali opere furono tenute egregie e mirabili"
References
- ^ a b "The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John, ca. 1504-05". Royal Academy of Arts. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ^ Hirst, Michael (2005). "The Marble for Michelangelo's Taddei Tondo". The Burlington Magazine. 147 (1229): 548–549.
- ^ Olson, Roberta J. M. (1993). "Lost and Partially Found: The Tondo, a Significant Florentine Art Form, in Documents of the Renaissance". Artibus et Historiae. 14 (27). IRSA: 31–65.
- ^ a b Larson, John (1991). "The Cleaning of Michelangelo's Taddei tondo". The Burlington Magazine. 133 (1065): 844–846.
- ^ Easton, Malcolm (1969). "The Taddei Tondo: A Frightened Jesus?". Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. 32. Warburg Institute: 391–393.
- ^ Lightbown, Ronald W. (1969). "Michelangelo's Great Tondo: Its Origins and Setting". Apollo. 89: 22–31.
- ^ Smart, Alastair (1967). "Michelangelo: the Taddeo Taddei 'Madonna' and the National Gallery 'Entombment'". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 115 (5135). Royal Society of Arts: 835–862.
- ^ Vasari, Giorgio (1550). Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (in Italian). p. 400.
- ^ "The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries". Sackler.org. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ^ "Sketch of Michelangelo's Taddei tondo, c. 1823?". Royal Academy of Arts. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ^ "Sketch of Michelangelo's Taddei Tondo, 1st July 1830". Royal Academy of Arts. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
External links
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