Collection Online as of September 25, 2023

Virgin and Child

c. 1475–1485

workshop of Pietro Lombardo

(Italian, c. 1435–1515)

Italy, Venice, 15th century

Marble

Overall: 54.6 x 37.2 x 9.5 cm (21 1/2 x 14 5/8 x 3 3/4 in.)

General Income Fund 1920.273

Location

117A Italian Renaissance

Description

In the later 1400s, artists increasingly infused sacred subject matter with a classical vocabulary. The shallow relief and simplified forms ultimately stemmed from ancient sculpture, bringing gravity as well as novelty to a conventional theme. Yet naturalistic elements such as the baby’s bulging navel, chubby wrists, and shirt pulled up to reveal his genitals all humanize Christ, a critical principle of Christian dogma.

Provenance

Wildenstein & Co. (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1920.

Citations

"Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 7, no. 8 (1920): 123-26. Mentioned: p. 123 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 85 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 85 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 98 archive.org

Schulz, Anne Markham. The History of Venetian Renaissance Sculpture, Ca. 1400-1530. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2017. Mentioned: p. 191

Exhibition history

Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).