Virgin and child with two angels
Bartolomeo Bellano
(Italian (Padua), 1437–1496/7)
About 1460–70
Object PlacePadua, Italy
Medium/TechniqueTerracotta with traces of polychromy
Dimensions78.7 x 67.3 x 11.4 cm (31 x 26 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)
Credit LineGift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession number17.1462
On View
On viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
This powerfully modeled relief displays an intensity of emotion that recalls works by Donatello, with whom Bellano worked in Padua and Florence. The severe profile of the Virgin, which overlaps part of the Child's face, creates a sense of foreboding, while the baby, who kicks out a leg and pulls on his mother's veil, brings child-like animation to the encounter.
ProvenanceBy 1896, Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston; 1917, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw, through Quincy Adams Shaw Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton, to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)
Unidentified artist, Italian (Florentine), 15th century
about 1480–1500
