Florentine school; XVI century.

Florentine school; XVI century.
"Relief of the Virgin and Child".
Modeled terracotta.
It presents faults and remains of polychrome.
Measurements: 48,5 x 35 x 5 cm.
The composition presents the Virgin in a recollected attitude, gently bending her head towards the Child, in a gesture of tenderness that defines the emotional axis of the scene. This iconographic type, deeply rooted in the artistic tradition of Florence, refers to models developed by masters such as Donatello or Luca della Robbia, who consolidated a language based on compositional harmony, the delicacy of the affections and the search for an idealized naturalism. In this relief, the Marian figure is configured by means of soft and continuous volumes, with a draped treatment that, without excessive complexity, suggests the underlying corporeality and brings rhythm to the surface.
The Child, lying on his mother's lap, introduces a dynamic counterpoint within the general serenity of the work. His anatomy, with its rounded and compact forms, reveals an attentive study of the child's body, while his relaxed and confident attitude reinforces the human dimension of the representation. The relationship between the two figures, marked by physical contact and the direction of their gazes, is evidence of a fully Renaissance sensibility. From the technical point of view, the choice of terracotta, widely used in the Florentine environment since the Quattrocento, responds both to its malleability and its ability to capture gesture and expression with immediacy, qualities that here translate into a work of remarkable intimacy.
Although by an anonymous author, the relief faithfully reflects the principles of the Florentine school of the sixteenth century: the primacy of drawing, the search for harmonious proportions and emotional restraint, far from dramatic excesses.