Virgin and Child (c. 1440): Art, History and Details

Virgin and Child (c. 1440) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Donatello (Italian, c. 1386–1466).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Plaquettes emerged during the Renaissance in connection with the revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman coins and medallions. This small-scale devotional image provided a personal and private connection between the owner and the religious figures. The two small holes suggest that it may have been hung on a wall, and the child's foreshortened arms and slant of the Virgin's head could imply that it was originally placed above eye level.

Object facts

• Title: Virgin and Child
• Date: c. 1440
• Creator attribution: Donatello (Italian, c. 1386–1466)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze with traces of gilding
• Dimensions: Overall: 9.5 x 7.6 cm (3 3/4 x 3 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1984.53

Collection credit

The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Winter, Patrick M. de. “Recent Accessions of Italian Renaissance Decorative Arts, Part I: Incorporating Notes on the Sculptor Severo Da Ravenna.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 3 (March 1986): 74–138.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.