Madonna and Child, or "Madonna of Bruges" (1504)
Returning to Florence, after "David", Michelangelo created the so-called "Madonna of Bruges" a small (1.27 m high) sculptural group of the Madonna and Child, finishing it in 1504. Subsequently, the statue ended up in the Notre Dame Church in the Dutch city of Bruges.
By type, this young, gentle, thoughtful Madonna resembles Madonna "Lamentations of Christ" from St. Peter's Cathedral. However, on this basin, the sculptor sculpted a more traditional composition, depicting Jesus in the form of a Child. In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength personalities are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman "Pieta" .
The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. Her gaze is directed into the distance, an expression of inescapable sadness is frozen on her face. The Baby, cheerful and inquisitive, with a large curly head, evokes completely different feelings. With her childish spontaneity and serenity, she seems to emphasize the immensity of her mother’s future grief.
“That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes. He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander the world alone.” Stone Irving.
The Virgin Mary turned out to be alive and believable, tender and pure. One moment more, and the eyelids will tremble, the hand will pick up the child, the chest will inhale. She is alive, she feels. The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in early works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, thick hair in a simple hairstyle, covered with a heavy hood, as this piece recalls the Pietà. The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?
Madonna and Child (Madonna of Bruges) (1504)
“And in addition, he made a bronze tondo with the Mother of God, cast by him at the order of the Flemish merchants Moscheroni, very noble persons in their area, so that they, having paid him one hundred crowns for it, could send this tondo to Flanders” Vasari.
Returning to Florence, after “David,” Michelangelo created the so-called “Madonna of Bruges,” a small (1.27 m high) sculptural group of the Madonna and Child, finishing it in 1504. Subsequently, the statue ended up in the Notre Dame church in the Dutch city of Bruges.
In type, this young, gentle, pensive Madonna is reminiscent of the Madonna of Lamentation from St. Peter's Cathedral. In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength of personality are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman Pietà in it.
The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. “That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes. He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander the world alone.” Stone Irving.
The Virgin Mary turned out to be alive and believable, tender and pure. One moment more, and the eyelids will tremble, the hand will pick up the child, the chest will inhale. She is alive, she feels. The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in his earlier works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for a feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, thick hair in a simple hairstyle covered with a heavy hood, as this work reminds "Pieta." The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?
Sculptural images of the Madonna “Tondo Tadei” and “Tondo Pitti” (1503-1505)
“Then he began, but did not finish, two marble tondos, one for Taddeo Taddei, the one that is now in his house, and the other he began for Bartolomeo Pitti, the one that Fra Miniato Pitti of Monte Oliveto, a man of understanding and extremely knowledgeable in cosmography and many other sciences, and especially in painting, gave it to Luigi Guicciardini, with whom he was in great friendship; These works were considered excellent and marvelous. At the same time he began a marble statue of St. Matthew for the guardianship of Santa Maria del Fiore; This unfinished statue testifies to his perfect skill and teaches other sculptors how to carve statues from marble without disfiguring them, so that when removing marble you can always gain something and so that if necessary, as it happens, then or remove or change the other” Vasari.
After the Madonna of Bruges, the theme of the Madonna and Child occupied Michelangelo in the future. Between 1503--1508 he executed two marble bas-reliefs depicting the Madonna, the Child Christ and the little John the Baptist. Both compositions of these reliefs are inscribed in a circle (in Italian “tondo”), but in mood and character they are completely different. - “Madonna Tadei” (1503-1505, Royal Academy of Arts, London) - “Madonna Pitti” (1504-1505, Bargello, Florence).
Two tondos depicting the Mother of God and the Child emerge from the plane of the relief; when looking at them, one gets the impression of full-volume sculptures. They clearly demonstrate his characteristic feature of working with marble. Michelangelo does not strive to give equal completeness to all parts of the relief, to all its details. He leaves the marble block almost unprocessed, as if unfinished. It preserves the texture of the stone in certain places, receiving an additional effect from various treatments of the marble surface.
“Bartolomeo Pitti’s Madonna” is made in the form of a tondo, a concave saucer, in contrast to the gentle and lyrical “Taddeo Taddei Madonna” it contains an image full of grandeur and monumentality. “Madonna Pitti” echoes one of Raphael’s Madonnas of the mature Roman period - “Madonna in the Armchair”. Like Raphael, the Madonna occupies a dominant place in Michelangelo’s composition. She seems cramped in the allotted space, her head protrudes beyond the circle. Looking up from her reading, she looks away, immersed in her inner world. The figurine of John the Baptist barely protrudes from the background, balancing this beautiful composition in its complex harmony and completeness. In the central figure of the composition - Mary sitting on a stone - is made most convex. Leaning on the open book on her lap, the Child Jesus, bowing his curly head, looks carefully into the book. John the Baptist, looking over the shoulder of the Mother of God, is located on the edge of the tondo, the least voluminous, barely visible against the background of unpolished marble.
In the faces and figures of Mary and the Child, the features of the “Madonna of Bruges” are clearly visible - the same maturity, spirituality, sadness and... doom.
In contrast, another tondo, the Taddei Madonna, exudes cheerfulness. This tondo is one of Michelangelo’s rare lyrical genre solutions. A young mother, smiling thoughtfully, looks at her children playing. John the Baptist hands the goldfinch to the Baby Jesus, and he, in fright, seeks protection from his mother, dodges, stretching out on Mary’s lap diagonally, across the entire plane of the tondo. The baby occupies the central place, while Mary is pushed into the depths of the concave tondo. The three figures are set against a background of rough-hewn marble, even coarser-grained than that of the Pitti Madonna, as if Michelangelo was trying to convey a desert feel.
The motif of this bas-relief echoes Raphael’s painting “Madonna with the Goldfinch” and is even close to it in mood. But instead of Raphael’s stable pyramidal composition, Michelangelo gives a dynamic, rhythmically complex structure, inscribing figures in a circle. With greater detail and central position, it highlights the figurine of the infant Christ. The softly modeled Madonna and Baptist are lightly shaded, their figures barely protruding from the tongue-and-groove background.
Since Bruges is now an absolute tourist destination, the city is trying in every possible way to maintain this image. Sights are everywhere!
But there is also a real relic here, which the city was lucky enough to receive back in 1506. Many people come here to see it!
Madonna of Bruges, Michelangelo
...At that time Bruges was flourishing. Very rich people lived here. One of them, the merchant Mouscron (Italian Moscheroni), once visited Michelangelo in his workshop.
Moscheroni had a clear idea of what the Virgin should look like. I repeat, the city was rich and at every step it was decorated with statues, luxurious temples (which local residents were considered small, regional churches), many painters lived and worked in the city. Therefore, Moscheroni was a fairly art-savvy person.
But when he saw this marble statue, he was shocked and immediately decided to buy it from Michelangelo.
Features of the sculpture of the Madonna in Bruges
...Here it is necessary to make a digression.
The composition was commissioned from Michelangelo by Cardinal Piccolomini. But during the work, disagreements arose. Michelangelo fundamentally wanted to sculpt the baby Jesus naked, while the cardinal considered this unacceptable.
Disagreements led to the cardinal apparently abandoning the sculpture...
What shocked the Brugger merchant so much and disgusted the cardinal?
Those sculptures of the Mother of God that Moscheroni saw in his life met all religious canons. They were modest, draped with many folds, under which the outlines of the bodies could not even be discerned, sad. The Madonna who amazed the merchant in Michelangelo's workshop was alive! Yes, her face expressed sadness, but it was living sadness! The sculpture seemed to be breathing. There was strength in her!
Madonna deviated from the generally accepted church canons of that time: pensive, as if immersed in her thoughts, the Mother of God does not press her son to her, her gaze is directed to the side. The classical beauty of her young face is marked by subtle poetry, lyricism and deep sorrow.
Madonna of Bruges, close up
“That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes. He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander alone in the world.”(Irving Stone, "Torment and Joy")
The first thing that catches the eye of a person who sees this work for the first time and does not know its history is its disproportion. Look how big the baby is standing next to his mother. Why did this happen?
Was the sculptor mistaken?
The fact is that the statue was intended for a niche above the main altar in the chapel of the same cardinal who argued with the master over the nudity of Jesus. The niche was located at a height of 6 meters. Taking this feature into account, Michelangelo changed the proportions of the composition. By the way, for the same reason, Madonna and Child look down.
How did the Madonna sculpture come to Bruges?
None of this bothered the Brugger merchant. And he persistently asked to sell him this work. Michelangelo had his own little quirk: he did not want his works to be outside of Italy.
Therefore, he set a price that was crazy for those times, hoping that the merchant would lag behind him - 100 ducats.
And Moscheroni paid!
But the sculptor did not retreat!
In a letter dated January 13, 1506, Michelangelo asks his father to leave the sculpture in a box, in family home and don't show it to anyone.
Six months later, on August 14, 1506, Giovani Balducci writes from Rome to Florence: “I heard that Francesco del Puglise can send the sculpture to Viareggio and from there to Flanders. If you agree with the shipping price, I ask you to send it to the rightful owners Jan and Alexandre Mouscron in Bruges.”
At the end of 1506, the sculpture was transported to Bruges.
"Madonna and Child" became the only job master who left Italy during his lifetime.
And today this is its marketing “trick”, which is exploited with all its might by enterprising Bruggers!
...The sculpture is located on the right side of the church, and is separated from the entire room by a partition. There is a ticket office at the entrance and for just 3 euros you can enter separate room and enjoy this work of art!
The ticket, of course, is not to the church. Ticket to the museum!
In general, its value, of course, lies elsewhere. “Madonna of Bruges” is one of the most believable, inspired, “living” works of the great Michelangelo.
Sources: own impressions, guide’s story, specialized literature
Michelangelo Buonarroti.Madonna of Bruges. 1501-1504 Madonna di Bruges
Height 128. Church of Our Lady, Bruges
"Madonna of Bruges" - marble statue Madonna and Child Christ, 128 cm high, made by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1501-04. shortly after the completion of the Vatican Pietà. This is the only statue of Michelangelo, which, during his lifetime, was taken from Italy to decorate the Church of Notre Dame in the city of Bruges.
The composition was commissioned from Michelangelo by Cardinal Piccolomini. But during the work, disagreements arose. Michelangelo fundamentally wanted to sculpt the baby Jesus naked, while the cardinal considered this unacceptable.
Disagreements led to the cardinal apparently abandoning the sculpture...
A merchant from Bruges, Mouscron (Moscheroni), who once visited Michelangelo in his workshop, decided to buy the sculpture. Michelangelo did not want the sculpture to leave Italy and set an incredibly high price for those times of 100 ducats, but the merchant paid. At the end of 1506, the sculpture was transported to Bruges.
The statue, probably originally intended for a church altar, deviates from church canons in many respects. Madonna does not hug her son to her and does not even look at him, her gaze is directed to the side, as if the fate destined for him had been revealed to her. Christ, it seems, is ready to leave his mother and enter the world of people.
In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength of personality are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman Pietà in it.
The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. Her gaze is directed into the distance, an expression of inescapable sadness is frozen on her face. The Baby, cheerful and inquisitive, with a large curly head, evokes completely different feelings. With her childish spontaneity and serenity, she seems to emphasize the immensity of her mother’s future grief.
STONE IRVING.
“That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes.
He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander the world alone.” Stone Irving.
The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in his earlier works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for a feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, thick hair in a simple hairstyle covered with a heavy hood, as this work reminds "Pieta."
The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?
Michelangelo Buonarroti. Biography. “The Descent from the Cross.” "Madonna of Bruges". “Madonna and Child.” Tondo “Madonna Doni”. Tomb of Pope Julius II.
There are many mysteries in the history of art. One of them was Michelangelo Buonarroti's unfinished painting "The Removal c cross”, which has long caused fierce controversy. Experts agreed that it corresponded to the early style of Michelangelo, but doubt remained whether it belonged to the brush of the master himself or was still a talented fake.
In 1981, all disputes were put to an end thanks to the discovery of documents proving that in 1500 Michelangelo accepted an order to create an altar image for the Roman church of San Agostino. In 1501, without completing the work, he left for Florence and subsequently returned the money received for the painting.
in the photo:Michelangelo Buonarroti.Tondo "Madonna"Pitti"
Life in hometown by that time it had stabilized. In 1498, as a result of the intrigues of Florentine leaders and the papal throne, the turbulent life of Savanarola and his two followers ended terrible death(they were burned in Piazza della Signoria). Centuries have passed, taking away old passions and enmity. Only memory remains. Today in Florence the streets of Michelangelo and Torrigiano, who disfigured him and after his expulsion became famous sculptor, lie very close, and the Florentines annually sprinkle the site of Savanarola’s death not even with roses, but with rose petals.
End XV century is significant for world art and Michelangelo with the creation of the legendary “David”.
Read more about the masterpiece of world sculpture, the “David” statue, on portal 2 queens. ru.
After David, Michelangelo created a small (1.27 meters high) sculptural group of the Madonna and Child, which he completed in 1504. This is one of Michelangelo's most believable, tender and spiritual Madonnas. The “Madonna of Bruges” is named after the Dutch city of Bruges, the former center of the Northern Renaissance, where it still adorns Notre Dame Cathedral.
“Tondo” is the name given to a round-shaped painting or relief. The famous tondo “Madonna Doni” is not quite a tondo; this work by Michelangelo is slightly larger in height than in width. It got its name in honor of Agnolo Doni, a prosperous Florentine weaver who commissioned the painting for his wedding. The original frame was probably designed by Michelangelo himself. Tondo Doni is the only completed and extant painting by the artist on wood.
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| Michelangelo Buonarroti.Tondo "Madonna Doni" |
Michelangelo's interest in painting begins with the "Madonna Doni", but it should be noted that, while performing paintings, he thinks like a sculptor: he created the picture in full agreement with his early reliefs “Tondo Tadei” and “Tondo Pitti”.
Michelangelo comes to realize the possibilities of painting, which can not only repeat sculpture, but also convey such complex positions of bodies that are not available in sculpture. This was the beginning of the journey to painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
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| Michelangelo Buonarroti.Tondo "Madonna of Tadei" |
In 1505, Michelangelo urgently left Florence for Rome. The reasons for this urgency lay in the latest changes in political life in Italy: Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, a representative of an impoverished aristocratic family, ascended the papal throne. He began his rise in the Catholic hierarchy in 1471, when his uncle was elected pope under the name Sixtus IV . Giuliano chose the papal name Julius because all his life he tried to imitate the military genius of Julius Caesar. Like other pontiffs of that time, Pope Julius was not only a religious figure, but also a military leader. During his pontificate, the warlike Julius II personally led the papal troops in a number of military campaigns and managed to annex a large territory in northern Italy to the papal state. This pope also became famous for his philanthropy.
Michelangelo's fame reached Rome. At this time, the position of chief architect of the Vatican was held by the Florentine Giuliano da Sangallo, a friend of Michelangelo, who actively recruited his fellow countrymen to serve the pope. Michelangelo also received an invitation on behalf of the pope to come to Rome. The Pope decided to ensure his immortality with the help of a brilliant sculptor - he ordered Michelangelo to build a tomb. One could only dream of such an order: regardless of the capabilities of the depleted treasury, the pope provided Michelangelo with unlimited funds and materials and promised not to constrain his creative imagination.
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| Michelangelo Buonarroti. Tomb of Pope Julius II |
Michelangelo set to work energetically; he went to the quarries of Carrara, where c two assistants spent more than eight months selecting marble for the tomb. The amount of extracted marble, from which Michelangelo planned to sculpt 40 sculptures, amazed all of Rome: it took (!) 70 carts to transport it. But in Rome, Michelangelo received unpleasant news - during the sculptor’s absence, Pope Julius lost interest in this project and stopped funding the work. The offended Michelangelo immediately left Rome for Florence, without even saying goodbye to Pope Julius. The Pope sent him in pursuit demanding that he return. But (unheard of impudence in those days!), Michelangelo refused. Papa Julius II wanted to return Michelangelo to Rome at any cost, threatened, insisted. And after long negotiations in Bologna, their reconciliation took place.
As a sign of reconciliation, Michelangelo accepted an order to make a statue of the pope for the church of San Petronio. A statue of the pope was placed on the façade of the church in Bologna, which the pope annexed to his domain. But when Bologna regained its independence, the statue suffered a sad fate: it was melted down, and “the bronze was sold to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara, who poured a cannon out of it and named it Julia.” (Vasari)
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| Michelangelo Buonarroti."Descent from the Cross" |
The collapse of plans related to the tomb of Pope Julius II , plunged Michelangelo into deep depression. “In this tomb I buried my youth,” he wrote sadly in 1542. In 1513, dad died, and a long-term lawsuit began between the artist and a relative of the deceased. The contract for the tomb was concluded 6 times over 37 years, until finally the monument was installed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. In 1545, Michelangelo finally finished work on the tomb, but it was only a pale shadow of the original plan.
Read more about Michelangelo's works in our following materials.
photos from websites : newliturgicalmovement.org, princeamsterdam.blogspot.com, flickriver.com, myartprints.com, artmight.com, italian-renaissance-art.com
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