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The Madonna and Child with St John and Angels (c. 1497), also known as The Manchester Madonna, is an unfinished painting attributed to Michelangelo in the National Gallery, London.[1] It is one of three surviving panel paintings attributed to the artist and is dated to his first period in Rome. The painting's attribution to Michelangelo was in doubt for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, but now most scholars are in agreement.[2] The work first came to public attention in the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester in 1857, hence the title the “Manchester Madonna”.[3]

Madonna and Child with St John and Angels
Artist	Michelangelo
Year	c. 1497
Medium	Tempera on panel
Dimensions	105 cm × 76 cm (41 in × 30 in)
Location	National Gallery, London

Like other Renaissance paintings of the Madonna and Child which include John the Baptist, the subject arises from a non-Biblical tradition that Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus met Christ's cousin St John the Baptist, on the Holy Family's Flight into Egypt. The Virgin is depicted with one breast bared, as if she has recently been suckling her infant son; this recalls the theme of the Virgin breastfeeding common in medieval painting. In her hands is a book (traditionally Isaiah chapt. 53) which she attempts to hold away from her son, the contents of which probably foretell his future sacrifice and his taking over himself the evil of the world. She looks over her left shoulder onto a scroll being read by a pair of angels; this is likely to be the scroll reading Ecce Agnus Dei ('Behold the Lamb of God'), usually an attribute of John the Baptist.

The figures are arranged as if in a frieze, revealing Michelangelo's sculptor's mindset. The frieze becomes more convex at its centre with the figures of Virgin and Child, as in the later Pitti Tondo. Another similarity to relief sculpture is in the plain background: rather than the landscapes more common for exterior settings, Michelangelo has simply painted an expanse of sky. He also eschewed the richly decorated throne typical of sacra conversazione altarpieces, and de-emphasised the angels' wings.

Many areas of the painting are in a preliminary state; the black of the Virgin's robe was meant to be overpainted with the rich blue pigment lapis lazuli, and the angels on the left are indicated only by the green underpaint used for flesh tones in a kind of non-finito.

Attribution

The completed angel nearest the Virgin is noted as being similar to a sketch the young Michelangelo made while he was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio.[4]

References

Sources

External links

Media related to Manchester Madonna at Wikimedia Commons

• David Ward, "Michelangelo's Madonna returns to Manchester", The Guardian, 05-10-2007

На других языках

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[de] Madonna Manchester

Die Madonna Manchester ist eines der wenigen erhaltenen Tafelbilder von Michelangelo Buonarroti.

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- [en] Manchester Madonna

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[es] Madonna de Manchester

La Madonna de Mánchester es una pintura sobre madera realizada hacia el año 1497 por el artista del renacimiento italiano Miguel Ángel y que se encuentra en la National Gallery de Londres.

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[fr] Madone de Manchester

La Vierge et l'Enfant avec saint Jean-Baptiste et des anges, aussi appelée Madone (ou Vierge à l'Enfant) de Manchester, est une peinture inachevée de Michel-Ange conservée à la National Gallery de Londres.

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[it] Madonna di Manchester

La Madonna di Manchester è un dipinto incompiuto a tempera su tavola (102x76 cm) attribuito al giovane Michelangelo Buonarroti, databile al 1495-1497 circa e conservato nella National Gallery di Londra.

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