Object Description
Pair of porcelain plaques in giltwood frames, after Old Master Madonnas
Italian, 1901
Frames: height 28cm, width 23cm, depth 2cm
Plaques: height 18cm, width 13cm, depth 0.5cm
Depicting a pair of Madonna and Child images after famous Renaissance artworks, these beautiful early twentieth century porcelain plaques were made in Italy, and are mounted within giltwood frames. The rectangular painted porcelain plaques depicting religious Christian scenes after famous Old Master paintings, various marks/inscriptions and dated to reverse.
The first is after Raphael’s Madonna del Cardellino, an immensely famous and important religious artwork of 1506, housed in the Uffizi, Florence. The second is most likely after Michelangelo’s Pitti Tondo, a work of perhaps even greater significance, though the adaptation of the composition is looser, most likely because the original is a work of marble sculpture, rather an a painter. Another strong indication that the second is after Michelangelo is the way the colour palette takes after the Raphael, with the red and ultramarine of the Virgin’s drapery the same in both paintings.
Set in carved giltwood frames, and dating to 1901, the pieces are variously inscribed and labelled to the reverse as shown.