Madonna and Child

Alonso Berruguete (c. 1488–1561) is one of the key Renaissance painters of Spain and is considered one of the most important Italian artists of the early sixteenth century. His artwork, Madonna and Child (Madonna col Bambino), is a seminal panel painting created in his formative Italian period. A delicate dialogue of emotion and space is being created: the Virgin Mary tenderly holds the infant Christ Child. Berruguete organises the composition around the three main influences he received in his time in High Renaissance Florence and Rome. Curatorial research from the Uffizi shows that Berruguete was influenced by a prototype in 15th-century terracotta by Donatello, of the Madonna and Child with Cherubs' Heads (variants in the Bode Museum and Museo Bardini). Donatello's spatial tension is reflected in the close, physical relationship between mother and child. The use of gradation of light and dark (sfumato) across Mary's face and veil demonstrates Berruguete's direct borrowing from Leonardo da Vinci's tonal modelling. The solid, anatomical weight of the figures and their subtle twisting postures (contrapposto) demonstrate Berruguete's study of Michelangelo Buonarroti's Roman and Florentine works. Berruguete spent some 13 years in Italy training under Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino before returning to Castile to be the leading sculptor for Emperor Charles V and a pioneer of the Spanish retablo tradition. The Madonna and Child is one of the most important works of early Florentine Mannerism and highlights the impact of foreign masters on the transformation of the classical High Renaissance harmony into a more expressive, restless style.