A Marian Tondo

This Madonna and Child with two angels tondo, made by Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) in 1428, is believed to be one of the first tondi to be made in Florence.[1] It is made of polychromed stucco. Stucco is a fine plaster, which could be moulded and painted over. The Virgin Mary is one of the most common subjects depicted in fifteenth-century tondi. This Marian tondo shows the Madonna seated on a cloud of red seraphim, with the Christ Child in her lap, and with angels bowing their heads in respect.

Luca della Robbia was one of the leading Florentine sculptors of the fifteenth century; in particular, his tin-glazed terracotta high relief statues became highly popular and would be used on the outside of buildings as heraldic devices, and also as decorative interior features in churches.

The folds of fabric of the Madonna’s blue cloak appear to flow out towards the viewer, as the stucco adds height and definition to the darker shades of blue-purple painted on top. Depicting the Virgin seated with the child on her lap was common in the early fifteenth-century, as it conveyed a more naturalistic and intimate scene of mother and child.

[1] Moritz Hauptmann, Der Tondo, Ursprung, Bedeutung und Geschichte des Italienischen Rundbildes in Relief und Malerei, Frankfurt, 1936.