Attributed to Giuseppe Maria Mazza (1653-1741) | Italian, Bologna, circa 1700-1720 | Relief with the Nursing Virgin and an Angel

This beautifully carved relief derives its motif from the Madonna del Latte by Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), which is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. By 1603 the painting was in the Aldobrandini collection in Rome, and it was reproduced in engravings and drawings. Another marble version of the present roundel is housed in the Museo di Casa Romei in Ferrara, where it carries an attribution to the Bolognese sculptor Giuseppe Maria Mazza. Convincing comparisons for the drapery style, with voluminous and densely layered, undulating folds, as well as the Madonna's sweet facial features, are found in numerous reliefs by Mazza illustrated in op. cit., in particular nos. 35-39.

RELATED LITERATURE
E. Riccomini, Scultura Bolognese del Settecento, exh. cat. Museo Civico, Bologna, 1966