Madonna and Child

ca. between 1332 and 1334

Giovanni Balduccio Italian, 1300-1360

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

This Image of the standing Virgin and Child reveals a profound change in the Image of the Virgin that occurred by the early fourteenth century. Rather than confronting the viewer frontally in the Romanesque manner, here the mother and her child engage in an intimate, human relationship. The child energetically grasps the Virgin's mantle in his right hand as he leans back to peer into her face. Giovanni di Balduccio was born in Pisa and worked in Tuscany during his early years, moving north to Lombardy in the mid-1330s.

Title Madonna and Child

Artwork Date ca. between 1332 and 1334

Artist Giovanni Balduccio

Life Dates 1300-1360

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Marble

Dimensions Overall (sculpture): 32 × 11 3/4 × 8 1/4 inches (81.3 × 29.8 × 21 cm) Overall (pedestal): 46 1/2 × 29 × 25 inches (118.1 × 73.7 × 63.5 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Elizabeth P. Kirby Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 37.140

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Richard Mortimer (Tuxedo, New York, USA)

September 24-25, 1937, sold by (American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, New York, USA) Elenore J. Mortimer Sale

1937-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Werke um Giovanni Pisano in Amerika." Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst, N.F., 31 (1919-1920): pp. 111-114 (ill.).

Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Italian Gothic and Early Renaissance Sculptures. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1938, no. 9 (ill.) [unpaginated].

Exhibition and Public Sale on the Premises, Property of the Estate of the Late Elenore J. Mortimer comprising the contents of Mortimer, Tuxedo Park. Sales cat., Anderson Galleries. New York, September 24-25, 1937, p. 35, no. 175.

"Outstanding Italian Sculptures Added." Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report 17 (February 1938): pp. 33, 41, no. 5.

Carli, Enzo. "Sculture Pisane di Giovanni di Balduccio," Emporium 97 (1943): pp. 143-154, p. 147 (ill.); pp. 150, 154.

Gnudi, Cesare. "Un'altro frammento dell'altare Bolognese di Giovanni di Balduccio." Belle Arti 1 (1947): pp. 171-173.

Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Notes of Giovanni Balducci and Trecento Sculpture in Northern Italy." Art Quarterly 10, no. 1 (Winter 1947): pp. 40-60 (fig. 3); p. 45 (ill.).

Darr, Alan P. "A Valentiner Legacy: Italian Sculpture in Detroit." Apollo 124 (December 1986): pp. 477-478.

Medica, M. Un San Domenico per l'altare bolognese di Giovanni di Balduccio, Arte a Bologna, Bollettino dei musei civici d'arte antica (1991): p.18.

Medica, Massimo. Giovanni di Balduccio: Natività (Ospiti 3). Exh. cat., Musei Civici d'Arte Antica and Museuo Civico Medievale. Bologna, 1996, pp. 12; 25 (ill); 26; 28; 30.

Darr, Alan P., Peter Barnet, Antonia Boström, Charles Avery, et al. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2002, 2 vols., I, cat. 38.

Caglioti, Francesco. "Giovanni di Balduccio a Bologna: l''Annunciazione' per la rocca papale di Porta Galliera (con una digressione sulla cronologia napoletana e bolognese di Giotto)." Prospettiva 117-118 (January -April 2005): pp. 21-62, (ill.), 31-32, 50, p. 57 no. 53 (ill.).

Medica, Massimo, ed. Giotto e le arti a Bologna al tempo di Bertrando del Poggetto. Exh. cat., Museo Civivo Medievale, Bologna. Milan, 2005, pp. 48-49 (figs. 17, 21); 144; 146 (ill).;

148; 156.

Schmidt, Victor M. "Giotto. Bologna," Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1236 (March 2006): pp. 222-223, p. 222.

Mark Gregory D'Apuzzo, “Giovanni di Balduccio, Saint Pierre Martyr (Notice 3)," Bologne et le pontifical d'Autun. Exh. Cat. Ville d'Autun, Musee Rolin, Autun, 2012, pp. 69-71 (ill.).

Kennedy, Trinita, ed. Medieval Bologna: Art for a University City. Exh. cat., Frist Art Museum. Nashville, 2021, pp. 68; 89; cat. 49 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Giovanni Balduccio, Madonna and Child, ca. between 1332 and 1334, marble. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Elizabeth P. Kirby Fund, 37.140.