Madonna mit fünf Engeln / Virgin and Child with five Angels

Relief

English catalogue entry Follower of Donatello Virgin and Child with five Angels ca. 1460 Stucco 71 x 53 cm Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung, Inv. SKS 58. Lost since May 1945. Provenance Florence (1881); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Altes Museum (1881-1904); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (1904-1939); Berlin, storage (1939-1945); whereabouts unknown (1945-present). Acquisition Bought in Florence in 1881. Other versions • Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung, Inv. SKS M 88. Terracotta, 22 x 15.5 cm. • Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Inv. 1810. Marble, 68 x 50 cm. Bibliography Bode 1884 Wilhelm Bode, “Die italienischen Skulpturen der Renaissance in den Königlichen Museen zu Berlin. III”, Jahrbuch der Königlich preußischen Kunstsammlungen, V, 1884, pp. 33-35: workshop of Donatello. Bode 1887 Wilhelm Bode, Italienische Bildhauer der Renaissance. Studien zur Geschichte der italienischen Plastik und Malerei auf Grund der Bildwerke und Gemälde in den Königl. Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, W. Speemann, 1887, pp. 38-40: school of Donatello. Bode 1892-1905 Wilhelm Bode, Denkmäler der Renaissance-Sculptur Toscanas, Munich, Brückmann, 1892-1905, p. 54, pl. 179-180: after Donatello. Bode 1907 Wilhelm Bode in Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Verein zu Berlin. Bericht über das Geschäftsjahr 1906-1907, Berlin, H. S. Hermann, 1907, pp. 16-17: workshop of Donatello; derives from the marble in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Inv. 7624-1861; another version is in the Bardini collection in Florence. Schottmüller 1913 Frida Schottmüller, Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barocks in Marmor, Ton, Holz und Stuck, Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1913, p. 22 cat. 46: school of Donatello, made after the Inv. SKS M 88. Wulff 1922 Oskar Wulff, Donatello, Leipzig, E. A. Seemann, 1922, p. 14, fig. 34. Maclagan and Longhurst 1932 Eric Maclagan and Margaret H. Longhurst, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, p. 25: pupil of Donatello, perhaps derived from the small terracotta sketch in Berlin (Inv. SKS M 88). Schottmüller 1933 Frida Schottmüller, Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barock. Erster Band. Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Wachs, Zweite Auflage, Berlin and Leipzig, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1933, pp. 14-15: follower of Donatello; Silvestro dell’Aquila?; traces of painting and gilding; derives from the Madonna dei Cordai in the Museo Bardini, Florence. Middeldorf 1938 Ulrich Middeldorf, review of Schottmüller 1933, Rivista d’arte, XX, 1938 now in: idem, Raccolta di scritti that is Collected Writings. I. 1924-1938, Florence, SPES, 1979-80, p. 379: workshop of Donatello. Goldscheider 1947 L. Goldscheider, Donatello, Paris, Phaidon, 1947, p. 39 fig. 119: school of Donatello. “Verzeichnis…” 1953 “Verzeichnis der im Flakturm Friedrichshain verlorengangenen Bildwerke der Skulpturen-Abteilung”, Berliner Museen, new series, III, n° 1-2, 1953, p. 12: burnt in Berlin between 5 and 10 May 1945. Pope-Hennessy 1964 John Pope-Hennessy, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1964, I, pp. 80-82: workshop of Donatello. La Moureyre-Gavoty 1975 Françoise de La Moureyre-Gavoty, Inventaire des collections publiques françaises. 19. Institut de France. Paris – Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, Édition des Musées Nationaux, 1975, cat. 25: Florentine School, after Donatello; or possibly a forgery. Neri Lusanna 1986 Enrica Neri Lusanna in Eadem and Lucia Faedo (eds.), Il museo Bardini a Firenze. Volume secondo: le sculture, Milan, Electa, 1986, p. 253: related to the Madonna dei Cordai in the Museo Bardini, Florence. Avery 1991 Charles Avery, Donatello. Catalogo completo delle opere, Florence, Cantini, 1991, p. 65: related to the Madonna dei Cordai in the Museo Bardini, Florence. Jolly 1998 Anna Jolly, Madonnas by Donatello and his Circle, Frankfurt am Main et al., Peter Lang, 1998, p. 113: stucco cast after the version in the Musée Jacquemart-André-Paris. Lambacher 2006 Lothar Lambacher (ed.), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Dokumentation der Verluste. Skulpturensammlung. Band VII. Skulpturen. Möbel, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 2006, p. 137: lost since 1945; last traced on 7 April 1945 in the Leitturm Friedrichshain, Berlin, crate 689 KFM. Gentilini 2007 Giancarlo Gentilini, “La ‘Madonna del Presepe’ ed altre immagini mariane tra Donatello e compagni”, in Giuseppe Adani, Giancarlo Gentilini and Cristina Grimaldi Fava (eds.), La Madonna del Presepe da Donatello a Guercino. Una devozione antica e nuova nella terra di Cento, exh. cat. (Cento, Pinacoteca Civica, 2 December 2007-13 April 2008), Bologna, Minerva Edizioni, 2007, pp. 112, 134 note 34: close to Urbano da Cortona; more modest and eccentric master than the Inv. SKS M 88, which is attributed to Donatello. Comment The composition of this work is difficult to read. The Virgin is seated on a folding stool, the right hand in a gesture of prayer that is however not answered by the other hand, which is gently caressing the Child’s head. Jesus is resting on a cushion, with his legs crossed on the Virgin’s right leg; it is as if he had just fallen from his mother’s knees. Around the mother and her child are no fewer than five angels; two on the upper side are playing a sort of flute, one on the left is looking at Christ and the latter two, in the right center, seem to kiss. The relief has always been attributed to the school of Donatello. There are indeed similarities with many works of the master, from the right hand of the Virgin (see, among others, two types of Virgin and Child preserved in Berlin, Inv. SKS 60 and Inv. SKS 67), to the folding stool that recalls the typology of the Madonna di via Pietrapiana (see Inv. SKS 2431). However, the grotesque physiognomies (especially visible in the upper angels) speak against an attribution to Donatello himself – Schottmüller 1933 tentatively proposed the name of Silvestro dell’Aquila, Gentilini 2007 the one of Urbano da Cortona. The work has been paired with another, similar relief in the Musée Jacquemart-André (Inv. 1810): if the composition is similar, the style is different (as the artist is). A third relief, of much smaller scale, also has the same composition (Inv. SKS M 88). It was identified by Bode 1908 as the original sketch by Donatello, who let his pupils make enlarged versions in marble. This opinion seems still relevant today: one can in fact better read both reliefs with the help of the terracotta sketch – and understand that the two angels behind Christ were intended by Donatello to be reading and singing (for further discussion, see the entry relative to Inv. SKS M 88). Neville Rowley (22 February 2016)

Object Details

• Location: Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Inventory number: 58
• Measurements: Breite: 53 cm ; Höhe: 71 cm
• Material/Technique: Stuck

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Relief (Sachgruppe) ; SKS Verlust (Sachgruppe) ; Skulptur (Sachgruppe)
• Subject (what): Madonna; d.h. Maria mit dem Christuskind ; Engel

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Herstellung
• (where): Florenz

Further information

• Rights: Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Last update: 09.04.2025, 10:14 AM CEST