Madonna and Child

Abstract

This painted terracotta sculpture of the Madonna and Child in the Museo Civico of Rieti has been attributed on the base of style to Sylvestro dell'Aquila, a painter, sculptor, and architect from Abruzzo. Aggressive scrubbing of the faces of the Madonna and Child and parts of the cloak in the past has led to paint loss in these areas. The work underwent restoration in 1957, at which time later repaint was removed. The Virgin is majestic in her swirling heavy drapery, but both figures are also deeply human -- the smiling Virgin, beguilingly beautiful according to the standards of the day, and the round-bellied, chubby-legged infant Christ, both seeming to smile slightly. The sculpture is displayed in the middle of the room in the museum, and so it is possible to observe the hollowed out back (a process done to speed drying of the clay and avoid cracking during firing) and that the piece was fired in two pieces, the join cleverly hidden beneath the swooping drapery that falls under Mary's arms. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.