The Virgin Adoring the Child, called the Piot Madonna
Donatello (c. 1386-1466) · Fifteenth century
The Virgin kneels and bends over the newborn Child, her hands joined in prayer, in a composition that fits into an almost square panel. What makes the relief unusual is its decoration: set into the terracotta are small medallions of coloured wax under glass, some of them restored and now protected under plastic, which once glittered like jewels around the figures, together with traces of gilding. Look at the way the Virgin's mantle sweeps across the bottom of the panel and at the low, flattened modelling of the Child, so shallow that it reads almost as a drawing.
The Louvre attributes the relief to Donatello, who experimented constantly with mixed materials and with the shallow relief technique called stiacciato. The collector Eugène Piot bought it in Florence in 1857, sold it at his own auction in 1864, bought it back, and finally left it to the Louvre in his will of 1889; it entered the museum in 1890 and is still known by his name. The relief lost its old frame when it was taken out in 1930, and that frame has never been traced.
Did You Know? The collector Eugène Piot sold this relief at auction and then bought it back himself rather than let it go.
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