Divine Michelangelo. “Descent from the Cross”, tondo and tomb of Pope Julius II

A mother and a newborn baby is one of the most popular subjects in art.

He received special attention from both popular and well-known artists (Leonardo da Vinci and Rafael Santi) and those little known to the general public (Bartolomeo Murillo, di Marcovaldo and others).

Virgin Mary di Marcovaldo

Coppo di Marcovaldo is considered the founder of the Siena school of fine art. His fate is quite interesting, since in the middle of the 13th century. he took part in one of the battles on the side of the Florentine adherents of the Pope, as a result of which the artist was captured. But since he was very talented, he was able to “buy” his freedom by painting a very beautiful and quite realistic image of the Madonna and Child, which was then transferred to the Siena Church. This Madonna was called "Madonna del Bordone".

This painting presents the viewer with the Virgin Mary sitting on a throne, slightly raising one leg to make it more comfortable for the baby to sit in her arms. She touchingly holds his leg, and he reaches out to her with his hand. They already have some noticeable interaction that was not seen in the earlier paintings.

The Virgo's head is surrounded by a barely visible halo. It is worth noting the incredibly expressive eyes of this Madonna. She looks at the viewer, as if looking into his soul. Her clothes are a simple black cape, but to make it more chic, the artist painted the draperies in gold. On the sides, left and right, there are angels depicted in full height (this is a Florentine tradition). Usually they were drawn the same, but these, if you look closely, are not completely identical to each other: the differences are in their faces.

Let's move on from the lesser known to the more popular and take a closer look at the most striking paintings on this topic.

"Madonna Litta" by Leonardo da Vinci

One of the most depicted Madonna and Child is the painting “Madonna Litta” by the brilliant Leonardo da Vinci. Now it can be seen among the masterpieces stored in the Hermitage.

The main person in this painting is a young woman holding a baby in her arms and breastfeeding him. As in all of them, it stands out more in comparison to the background, where the viewer can observe arched windows through which a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds can be seen. It is worth noting that the Madonna and Child are drawn very clearly, her features seem to be highlighted, as if drawn under the flash of a camera, in comparison with the somewhat blurred background - these are also distinctive features of portraits of that era.

The mother looks at the child with tenderness. Some people think that she is smiling slightly (the “Leonardo’s smile”, popular for the artist’s paintings), but in fact, the Madonna is thoughtful. The child looks at the viewer, holding a bird in one of his hands - a small goldfinch.

Goldfinch in the painting "Madonna Litta"

There are different versions of why the chick is depicted in this painting.

The bird as a symbol of the future suffering of Christ, where the red head of the goldfinch symbolizes the blood shed by the Son of God. According to legend, when Christ was being led to Golgotha, a goldfinch flew down on him, pulled out a thorn from Jesus’ eyebrow, and blood dripped onto him.

The goldfinch symbolizes the soul, which flies away after death: this designation comes from ancient paganism, but is also preserved in Christian semiotics.

The apocryphal Gospel of Thomas tells a slightly different story: Jesus revived a dead goldfinch by simply holding it in his hands, which is why many paintings depict this chick along with the baby.

Madonnas by Raphael Santi

But there is another, no less famous Madonna and Child. Rafael Santi was the one who wrote it. Or rather, he has quite a lot of paintings with such a plot: this is the well-known “Madonna of Conestabile”, which is kept in the Hermitage, and the extraordinary “Madonna with a Veil,” which depicts not only a mother and child, but the entire Holy Family.

Raphael painted the painting itself with the title “Madonna and Child” in 1503. The woman in it is more sophisticated and, undoubtedly, younger than da Vinci’s. Obviously, the bond between mother and child is more pronounced. They look at each other with touching love and slight thoughtfulness, the mother supports the baby by the back with her hand. This is no longer the anxious Virgo that can be seen in the artist’s early paintings.

Together they read the book “Book of Hours” - a symbol of the authority of the church - in which the texts of prayers, psalms, and church services are written (previously, by the way, it was from this book that they learned to read). According to some sources, the Book of Hours is opened on the page that corresponds to nine o'clock, which is the time when Jesus was crucified on the cross.

In the background there is a smoky landscape with a church and trees. By the way, this landscape can also be called a distinctive characteristic of Santi’s works on the theme of mother and child. Almost every painting by Raphael has a fairly detailed landscape background.

There is no point in determining whose painting is better: Da Vinci or Raphael. The Madonna and Child looks original and unique in each of them.

Not only fine art was interested in the theme of mother and child, so it is worth considering how it was reflected in other forms.

Madonna and Child sculpture

The attention of any art connoisseur is attracted by the sculpture "Madonna and Child", the author of which is the famous master Michelangelo.

According to the customers, this masterpiece was supposed to be at a height of about nine meters, so that the audience would look up at it, like a deity. By the way, it is for this reason that the gaze of mother and child is directed downward.

There is evidence that Cardinal Piccolomini (the first customer) was dissatisfied with the sketches, primarily because Jesus was naked, so their contract with Michelangelo was broken. And the sculpture, of course, found its owner. He became de Mouscron, a merchant from the city of Bruges. He then gave it to the Church of Our Lady, where it was placed in a dark niche that contrasted beautifully with the marble-white color of the sculpture itself.

At the moment, in order to protect the city authorities, they placed it behind bulletproof glass.

"Madonna Doni" by Michelangelo

In addition to being an excellent sculptor, Michelangelo was also a wonderful artist. Although he did not consider it some kind of achievement and was not at all proud of his talent.

The images drawn by him amaze the viewer with their incredible plasticity; it seems that even when drawing he “sculpts” figures, giving them volume. In addition, the painting depicts the entire Holy Family, which was rare for paintings of this kind. Of course, in the full sense of the word, Michelangelo is a sculptor, not an artist. Madonna and Child, however, is simply a masterpiece.

So, let's summarize. If we talk about the most famous painting depicting the Virgin Mary, then this is Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “Madonna and Child”. If a person is interested in other types of art, then the most striking and memorable is undoubtedly the work of Michelangelo.

Tondo Doni from the Uffizi Gallery is the same masterpiece of Michelangelo, where painting becomes almost a sculpture, filled with the deepest meaning.

Tondo Doni (or Madonna Doni) is the only non-monumental painting by Michelangelo, which is considered completed, and whose authorship is beyond doubt.

A tondo is a piece of painting or sculpture in a round format, about a meter in diameter. Paintings and reliefs in the shape of a circle were extremely common in Florence during the early Renaissance. Throughout the 15th century, the most notable and vibrant artists worked with tondos, traditionally depicting religious subjects on them. Rich Florentines ordered tondos both for their palazzos and as expensive gifts for weddings and holidays.

In 1504, Michelangelo Buonarroti lives and works in Florence. Hishas just been installed in Piazza della Signoria, in the heart of the young republic. The news of the giant statue of a perfectly beautiful naked man spread throughout Europe. And there was no star brighter than Michelangelo!

A young sculptor, originally from Florence, who glorified his city... he became a real celebrity and the most sought-after master. Soon rumors of his genius will reach Pope Julius II himself, who will invite him to Rome with great respect. But for now Michelangelo is inundated with orders from wealthy Florentines: everyone wanted to get his work.

Agnolo Doni could not stay away either. A merchant, a wealthy textile merchant, a philanthropist, a collector of ancient and “modern” art, he was one of the most enlightened, famous and respected people in the city.

In 1504, a magnificent wedding takes place in Florence: Agnolo Doni marries Maddalena Strozzi, a representative of a wealthy family of Florentine bankers.

It is quite possible that it was in honor of this celebration that Doni turned to Michelangelo and ordered from him an image of the Virgin Mary in tondo format, the creation of which is connected with a fascinating story that has come down to us in the Lives of Giorgio Vasari.

When Michelangelo finished the tondo, he sent him with a messenger to Agnolo's house with a message to receive 70 ducats for it. Doni, a philanthropist and art connoisseur, immediately realized that Michelangelo’s work was so good that it was worth much more. But, being a prudent merchant, he decided that 40 ducats would be enough for the artist, which he handed to the messenger. Agnolo was fully confident that the artist would not dare to argue and bargain with such a powerful and respected person. But Michelangelo, known for his difficult character, became truly furious and sent back 40 ducats, ordering the messenger to return either with the painting or with double the price. Agnolo, already ready for 70, as in the saying about the stingy, was forced to send Michelangelo 140 ducats.

A year later, Agnolo Doni will turn to and will order a double portrait from him with his young wife. And you must agree, Raphael perfectly conveyed the character of Agnolo Doni, this smart but calculating Florentine.

What amazed Agnolo Doni so much, who was ready even for double the price?

Michelangelo places an intimate family scene in the center of the composition: the Virgin Mary hands over her son, the baby Jesus Christ, to Joseph.

A description by Giorgio Vasari has been preserved: “Here Michelangelo expresses in the turn of the head of the mother of Christ and in her eyes, fixed on the highest beauty of her son, his wonderful satisfaction and excitement<…>But since this was not enough for Michelangelo to show to an even greater extent the greatness of his art, against the background of this work he painted many naked bodies - leaning, standing upright and sitting, and he finished the whole thing so carefully and so cleanly that of all his paintings on wood, and there are not many of them, are rightly considered the most complete and the most beautiful.”

The Holy Family is separated by a small wall, and in the background there are naked youths, reminiscent of the ancient statues so beloved of Michelangelo. And the figurine of the baby John the Baptist is placed in such a way that it seems to connect these scenes.

There are several ways to read this work.

According to one, Tondo Doni is a contrast between the old, pagan world and the new time of Christianity and the coming of the Savior. Perhaps this group of naked people, gathered in a semicircle in the manner of antiquity, are pagans awaiting baptism, the sacrament of which is traditionally associated with the figure of John the Baptist.

And according to another version, naked men symbolize homosexual relationships, which were often attributed to Michelangelo, and which were condemned by the Christian church.

The technique with which Michelangelo completed the work amazed and continues to amaze everyone without exception. An unusually solid composition and rich color scheme make the tondo expressive, bright and unforgettable. It is impossible to believe that its creator did not consider himself an artist at all. On the contrary, Michelangelo did not like painting, considering the chisel and hammer to be his tools.

At the same time, he amazingly managed to work with these very instruments, like a brush (just remember the Pieta). And to paint pictures as if he were carving them out of marble: after all, the naked hands of the Virgin Mary seem completely alive!

The lively plasticity of figures is another unconditional advantage of Tondo Doni. Michelangelo was an artist and sculptor who was extremely attracted to the human body. He was not at all interested in portraying ethereal images. Of course, the naked male body in motion is the main thing in Michelangelo's art. But even when depicting clothed characters, Mary and Joseph, Michelangelo achieves maximum authenticity of movements and poses. After all, he, passionate about anatomy, like no other artist, knows all the secrets and positions of the human body.

The Virgin Mary handing over the baby Jesus Christ to Joseph is depicted in an unusual movement. This turn seems to twist the entire composition in a spiral, making it integral and expressive.

The pose of the Virgin Mary was found by Michelangelo, certainly during preparatory work. After all, for each of his projects, Michelangelo made dozens of drawings from life. It was this situation that unusually inspired Raphael Santi, a young and impetuous artist who arrived in Florence at that time, wanting to study with Michelangelo and Leonardo.

Tondo Doni will be an endless source of inspiration for Rafael. He uses this twisting movement in the painting “Entombment”: a girl in this position supports the Virgin Mary, who has fainted from grief.

And years later, in Rome, where Raphael would achieve extraordinary fame, become a leading artist, chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica and keeper of antiquities, he would not forget Tondo Doni. In 1512 he will create the altarpiece “Madonna di Foligno”, and his Jesus Christ will look so much like the baby from the Tondo Doni. This is exactly how, inspired and entering into dialogue, Raphael expressed his deep admiration for the genius of Michelangelo Buonarroti, “a simple sculptor from Florence.”

Madonna and Child (Madonna of Bruges) (1504)

“And in addition, he made a bronze tondo with the Mother of God, cast by him at the order of the Flemish merchants Moscheroni, very noble persons in their area, so that they, having paid him one hundred crowns for it, could send this tondo to Flanders” Vasari.

Returning to Florence, after “David,” Michelangelo created the so-called “Madonna of Bruges,” a small (1.27 m high) sculptural group of the Madonna and Child, finishing it in 1504. Subsequently, the statue ended up in the Notre Dame church in the Dutch city of Bruges.

In type, this young, gentle, pensive Madonna is reminiscent of the Madonna of Lamentation from St. Peter's Cathedral. In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength of personality are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman Pietà in it.

The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. “That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes. He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander in the world alone.” Stone Irving.

The Virgin Mary turned out to be alive and believable, tender and pure. One moment more, and the eyelids will tremble, the hand will pick up the child, the chest will inhale. She is alive, she feels. The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in his earlier works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for a feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, thick hair in a simple hairstyle covered with a heavy hood, as this work reminds "Pieta." The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?

Sculptural images of the Madonna “Tondo Tadei” and “Tondo Pitti” (1503-1505)

“Then he began, but did not finish, two marble tondos, one for Taddeo Taddei, the one that is now in his house, and the other he began for Bartolomeo Pitti, the one that Fra Miniato Pitti of Monte Oliveto, a man of understanding and extremely knowledgeable in cosmography and many other sciences, and especially in painting, gave it to Luigi Guicciardini, with whom he was in great friendship; These works were considered excellent and marvelous. At the same time he began a marble statue of St. Matthew for the guardianship of Santa Maria del Fiore; This unfinished statue testifies to his perfect skill and teaches other sculptors how to carve statues from marble without disfiguring them, so that when removing marble you can always gain something and so that if necessary, as it happens, then or remove or change the other” Vasari.

After the Madonna of Bruges, the theme of the Madonna and Child occupied Michelangelo in the future. Between 1503--1508 he executed two marble bas-reliefs depicting the Madonna, the Child Christ and the little John the Baptist. Both compositions of these reliefs are inscribed in a circle (in Italian “tondo”), but in mood and character they are completely different. - “Madonna Tadei” (1503-1505, Royal Academy of Arts, London) - “Madonna Pitti” (1504-1505, Bargello, Florence).

Two tondos depicting the Mother of God and the Child emerge from the plane of the relief; when looking at them, one gets the impression of full-volume sculptures. They clearly demonstrate his characteristic feature of working with marble. Michelangelo does not strive to give equal completeness to all parts of the relief, to all its details. He leaves the marble block almost unprocessed, as if unfinished. It preserves the texture of the stone in certain places, receiving an additional effect from various treatments of the marble surface.

“Bartolomeo Pitti’s Madonna” is made in the form of a tondo, a concave saucer, in contrast to the gentle and lyrical “Taddeo Taddei Madonna” it contains an image full of grandeur and monumentality. “Madonna Pitti” echoes one of Raphael’s Madonnas of the mature Roman period - “Madonna in the Armchair”. Like Raphael, the Madonna occupies a dominant place in Michelangelo’s composition. She seems cramped in the allotted space, her head protrudes beyond the circle. Taking a break from reading, she looks away, immersed in her inner world. The figurine of John the Baptist barely protrudes from the background, balancing this beautiful composition in its complex harmony and completeness. In the central figure of the composition - Mary sitting on a stone - is made most convex. Leaning on the open book on her lap, the Child Jesus, bowing his curly head, looks carefully into the book. John the Baptist, looking over the shoulder of the Mother of God, is located on the edge of the tondo, the least voluminous, barely visible against the background of unpolished marble.

In the faces and figures of Mary and the Child, the features of the “Madonna of Bruges” are clearly visible - the same maturity, spirituality, sadness and... doom.

In contrast, another tondo, the Taddei Madonna, exudes cheerfulness. This tondo is one of Michelangelo’s rare lyrical genre solutions. A young mother, smiling thoughtfully, looks at her children playing. John the Baptist hands the goldfinch to the Baby Jesus, and he, in fright, seeks protection from his mother, dodges, stretching out on Mary’s lap diagonally, across the entire plane of the tondo. The baby occupies the central place, while Mary is pushed into the depths of the concave tondo. The three figures are set against a background of rough-hewn marble, even coarser-grained than that of the Pitti Madonna, as if Michelangelo was trying to convey a desert feel.

The motif of this bas-relief echoes Raphael’s painting “Madonna with the Goldfinch” and is even close to it in mood. But instead of Raphael’s stable pyramidal composition, Michelangelo gives a dynamic, rhythmically complex structure, inscribing figures in a circle. With greater detail and central position, it highlights the figurine of the infant Christ. The softly modeled Madonna and Baptist are lightly shaded, their figures barely protruding from the tongue-and-groove background.

Michelangelo Buonarroti.Madonna of Bruges. 1501-1504 Madonna di Bruges
Height 128. Church of Our Lady, Bruges

“Madonna of Bruges” is a marble statue of the Madonna and Child Christ, 128 cm high, made by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1501-04. shortly after the completion of the Vatican Pietà. This is the only statue of Michelangelo, which, during his lifetime, was taken from Italy to decorate the Church of Notre Dame in the city of Bruges.

The composition was commissioned from Michelangelo by Cardinal Piccolomini. But during the work, disagreements arose. Michelangelo fundamentally wanted to sculpt the baby Jesus naked, while the cardinal considered this unacceptable.
Disagreements led to the cardinal apparently abandoning the sculpture...

A merchant from Bruges, Mouscron (Moscheroni), who once visited Michelangelo in his workshop, decided to buy the sculpture. Michelangelo did not want the sculpture to leave Italy and set an incredibly high price for those times of 100 ducats, but the merchant paid. At the end of 1506, the sculpture was transported to Bruges.

The statue, probably originally intended for a church altar, deviates from church canons in many respects. Madonna does not hug her son to her and does not even look at him, her gaze is directed to the side, as if the fate destined for him had been revealed to her. Christ, it seems, is ready to leave his mother and enter the world of people.

In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength of personality are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman Pietà in it.

The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. Her gaze is directed into the distance, an expression of inescapable sadness is frozen on her face. The Baby, cheerful and inquisitive, with a large curly head, evokes completely different feelings. With her childish spontaneity and serenity, she seems to emphasize the immensity of her mother’s future grief.

STONE IRVING.

“That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes.

He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander in the world alone.” Stone Irving.

The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in his earlier works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for a feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, thick hair in a simple hairstyle covered with a heavy hood, as this work reminds "Pieta."

The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?

In cities as ancient and untouched by time as Bruges, life is like a dream. Therefore, being in Bruges and dreaming about it are almost the same thing. However, only after getting to know this amazing city in person do you begin to understand why the great aesthetes of the early twentieth century were able to endure life exclusively in Bruges. One of the main attractions of the city, which in itself is one big attraction, is the Cathedral Church of Our Lady. The massive structure, piercing its long spire into the postcard Flemish sky, amazes with the diversity of architectural styles that it has absorbed over its 200-year construction history.

The history of the Church of Our Lady begins no less in the 9th century, when a small chapel was built outside the city rampart. It was then replaced by a Romanesque basilica, and construction of the modern Gothic Church of Our Lady began in 1220. However, its 122-meter tower remains to this day the tallest brick building in Belgium. An eclectic mixture of styles is characteristic of all Flemish churches that were built before the second half of the 16th century. The soaring Gothic exterior of the cathedral blends harmoniously with the interior, designed in Baroque style interspersed with Rococo or Romanesque style. The reasons for this should be sought in the history of iconoclasm, as a result of which the interior decoration of almost all churches in those places was destroyed. They were restored much later, when the world was ruled by Baroque.

Behind the powerful walls of the Church of Our Lady is one of the most beautiful sculptures on earth - the famous “Madonna and Child,” which was created by the great Michelangelo in 1505 and became the only work of the author that left Italy during the creator’s lifetime.

1501-1503. Gallery Vrouwekerk, Bruges. Michelangelo Buonarroti

The height of the sculpture is 128 cm, marble. Michelangelo Buonarroti depicted the classic version of the Virgin and Child Christ. This type of idealization has been used by many other artists. In addition, Michelangelo was an ardent admirer of Dante. At the beginning of St. Bernard's prayer in the last canzone of the Divine Comedy it is said: “Vergine Madre, figlia del tuo figlio” - “Our Lady, daughter of her Son.” The sculptor found the ideal way to express this medieval theological thought in stone.

An unusually beautiful woman, on whose face one can read the pain of her mother. A mother who knows that in a few years her beloved son will have to atone for the sins of humanity in terrible agony. Truly, only a genius can create so many emotions on a block of icy marble. Michelangelo's sculpture alone deserves to call the Church of Our Lady in Bruges a major Belgian attraction. But the wealth of the Flemish merchants knew no bounds, so here you can also see the magnificent paintings of Peter Paul Rubens decorating the choir. In addition, in the Church of Our Lady there are two of the most luxurious sarcophagi in Europe in the flaming Gothic style, which belong to the last Burgundian rulers of the Valois family - Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary, during whose reign Bruges reached the peak of its greatness.