Madonna and Child with Angels

Antonio Rossellino

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Virgin Mary is shown presenting her infant son, Jesus, to the viewer. The holy child sits erect on her lap, his dignified posture expresses his divinity. After this relief had been molded in stucco (a form of plaster), it was sent to another artist’s workshop to be painted. The collaboration between sculptor and painter creates lifelike effects: Christ’s plump cheeks project into space and are flushed like those of a real child. However, the sparkle of gold - on the throne, in Mary’s hair, and the angels’ wings - underscores the scene’s heavenly nature.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art