An Italian gilt and painted stucco high relief of the Madonna and child, known as the "Bergamo Madonna", attributed to the "Master of Saint Peter of Orsanmichele" (Filippo Brunelleschi?), first quarter 15th century, tuscan

RELATED LITERATURE
G. Gentilini and C. Sisi, La scultura. Bozzetti in terracotta, piccoli marmi e altra sculture dal XIV al XX secolo, Palazzo Chigi Saracini, Siena, 1989, p. 37.
Anna Jolly, Madonnas by Donatello and his circle, Frankfut am Main, 1998, fig. 11, p. 225.
Luciano Bellosi (cur.), Masaccio e le origini del Rinascimento, Milan, 2002.

Traditionally ascribed to the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti, the present composition of the Madonna and Child has been attributed to the ‘Maestro del San Pietro di Orsanmichele’, who many now believe to be Filippo Brunelleschi. The figure of Saint Peter for the Butcher’s guild at Orsanmichele in Florence shows much of Brunelleschi’s stylistic traits including an energy to the figure’s bodies and drapery. This movement can be seen clearly in Brunelleschi’s bronze relief for the Duomo of the Sacrifice of Isaac, now in the Bargello and in the drapery of several of his figures from the Duomo, Pistoia.

The other fine examples of this sculpture exist in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin (Bellosi, op.cit., fig. 19), the Hermitage and in the Galleria del’ Accademia Carrara, Bergamo. While variants also exist, this specific composition embodies a particular tenderness between the mother and child. Her veil swaddling the Child, His tugging at her garment while she clutches His left foot, and His resting His out-turned right foot on her hand, presents a feeling of intimacy and movement unlike the closest variant of this composition, an example of which is in the Szepmuveszeti Museum, Budapest (Bellosi, op.cit., fig.1). The undulating pleats in the veils, as Bellosi (op.cit.) discusses, are comparable to those on the Madonna and Child in Pontorme, San Martino (op.cit., fig.16), also ascribed to the ‘Maestro del San Pietro di Orsanmichele’.