Verrocchio's "spectacular" Madonna of Santa Maria Nuova

It took Verrocchio several years to reach the degree of technical perfection of the Madonna of Santa Maria Nuova, an exceptional terracotta relief that the public can admire today at the Bargello National Museum. And it took the world four centuries to know about it instead: until 1871 the work was not known. It was discovered that year by a painter, Alessandro Mazzanti, who was commissioned by the top management of the Arcispedale di Santa Maria Nuova in Florence to carry out a detailed survey of all the artistic heritage in the ancient hospital complex, founded in 1285 and still active today. The purpose of the mission was to provide the objects with the best possible preservation conditions, even at the cost of removing them to the most suitable and safe places. And the results, scholar Ottavio Andreucci attested already that same year, “went beyond expectation,” and returned, among other hitherto unknown art objects, a Madonna and Child that was immediately recognized as a work by Verrocchio.

An attribution that, since the date of its discovery, though never supported by documents has never even been questioned, and today the Madonna of Santa Maria Nuova ranks among the most original and surprising outcomes of Verrocchio’s poetics. The eye lingers for a long time before the pyramid built by the thick folds of the drapery on the left and then moves to the whole, also built on the same form: a mixture of energy, linearity, movement and delicacy. The Child is standing on a satin pillow, blessing the worshipper who is looking at him. The mother holds him from behind, thoughtful, her hands barely touching him to leave him autonomous but to intervene promptly if the pillow’s stability should fail. Energy that is released by those lines so animated that one admires especially in the drapery. Delicacy that exudes from the faces of the Madonna and Child, pervaded by a vein of sentimentality, but which nevertheless does not affect the sacred aura of what was first and foremost an image to be venerated, destined for devotion, even if we do not know whose. The two figures manage to be sweetly expressive, to convey a sincere humanity, and at the same time to remain two icons of divinity.

Being able to determine whether this relief is an independent work or, conversely, whether it represents a sketch, very close to final drafting, for a later marble sculpture, would help to clarify ideas: the problem is that it is not even easy to tell whether the Madonna of Santa Maria Nuova is a stand-alone work or a study. The ornamentation of the pillowcase appears incomplete, a sign interpreted by some as indicating that the work is a sketch. On the other hand, such a degree of finesse and such high quality are difficult to find in a sketch, and terracotta works, by the late fifteenth century, had already assumed full artistic dignity. Could it be that a master like Verrocchio had infused so much effort into a work that was not to be seen by the patron? In essence: for an object that was still being worked on, however close to its final outcome? Hard to think so: in any case, the question is currently on hold. And likewise, we do not know the initial destination of the work: it is not certain that it was not made for the hospital church of Santa Maria Nuova.

Certainly no one doubted the quality of the relief, so much so that just after its discovery the estimate attributed to it was high, six thousand lire: almost thirty thousand euros today. But as soon as the news had spread, offers of figures even four times higher began to pour in. Eventually, however, the work entered the public collections: twenty-seven works found in the Arcispedale in the late 19th century were purchased by the Italian state, and on October 18, 1902, the Madonna of Santa Maria Nuova finally entered the Bargello. Today, however, we do not see it exactly as it was rediscovered: at the time it was found by Mazzanti it was inserted into a Gothic structure that ended, at the top, with a pointed spire, and decorated with the image of the dove of the Holy Spirit. A spurious addition, difficult to date, it was later replaced in 1916 with the neo-Renaissance tabernacle we see today instead. Behind the Madonna, moreover, traces of the gilding with which the ancient plasterer had made the dove above her still remain. And we also have to imagine the Virgin in color: this is how she originally looked. This is attested by the traces of polychromy that have been found on the surface.

The fact that this is a work by Verrocchio is suggested not only by the very high quality of the execution (Francesco Caglioti called this Madonna “spectacular”), but also by the insertion of the Madonna of Santa Maria Nuova in a context that is well defined and delineated. The type of this Madonna and Child was among the most popular and widespread in Florence in the 1560s and 15th century, in painting as in sculpture. A fashionable image, one might trivialize. There is a precedent, namely the Oberlin Madonna, a stucco work now in the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, Ohio, and variously assigned to the master and his circle. Above all, there are many takes: also at the Bargello is a Madonna and Child in marble, by Francesco di Simone Ferrucci, where the little Jesus rests on the same cushion as Verrocchio, who to our knowledge was the first artist to introduce this element. There is the same image, reversed, painted by Piermatteo d’Amelia and now in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. And again Perugino’s Madonna and Child at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. That, in marble, by Benedetto da Maiano at the National Gallery in Washington. There is the Madonna of Solarolo, recently attributed to Verrocchio by Caglioti. Then there are the matches with the workshop drawings: the drapery, in particular, has been related to the sheets that were being produced there, as compositional studies.

It should also be added that, in the recent book on Verrocchio edited by Andrew Butterfield and published in 2021, Alison Luchs and Dylan Smith have noted an additional element that would suggest execution took place in the context of the great Florentine artist’s workshop: the “sense of assemblage” that the relief hints at, suggested by the “manner of construction, with the hands of the Madonna, the blessing hand of the Child, her legs and feet all shaped independently and then brought together.” Her left arm, with the joint at shoulder level, and her hand, “rise in the background, and her elbow goes beyond the frame. Both heads were modeled separately, attached, and then tilted forward with the application of a clay insert placed behind them, presumably to make the faces more visible from below.” Tilting that results punctually if one looks at the relief from the side. The Madonna appears more compressed toward the bottom than the Child, who instead stands out more: effects of this kind had already been tried by Verrocchio (think of theIncredulity of St. Thomas in Orsanmichele), and they served to give more movement to the compositions, to make them more charged with pathos, to bring them closer to the faithful.

This assemblage, these additions, American scholars have written, are imperfect. For the simple fact that, if you pay attention, you can see even with the naked eye the points of connection. But even they acknowledged that nonetheless we are dealing with a work “of superb quality, with the master’s ideas under control and his hands very much present.” To our knowledge it is the only example of a terracotta Madonna executed by Verrocchio. Yet, it is among the most extraordinary works in his catalog.

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