Michelangelo “Virgin or Madonna and Child” in the New Sacristy Medici in Florence

Sculpture - Carrara marble (348 x 90 cm) 1533-1534

Michelangelo, Madonna and Child, New Sacristy Medici in Florence

Madonna and Child The Virgin and Child, sculpted by Michelangelo and surrounded by saints Cosimo and Damian, represents Paradise.

The idea of the soul's immortality takes on its total value here through the eternal contemplation offered by the incarnation of life symbolized by the Virgin and Child.

The face of the Virgin is both sober and beautiful.

The simplicity of the Virgin's features is combined with an expression of piety, sadness and unspeakable sorrow, her gaze is absent, and the inclination of her head down towards emptiness are particularly moving.

We understand the melancholy she expresses as she portends the fate that awaits her son.

She presses him against her with love while Jesus behaves like any child who seeks the breast.

Madonna and Child All the statues of the sacristy are represented alive, the two dukes who look at the saints and the saints who look at the Virgin.

Everything converges towards her.

The Virgin is the spiritual centre of the sacristy.

Behind the altar, the priest prays and looks towards the Virgin.

The Dukes Giuliano and Lorenzo's gazes are directed to the Virgin and the saints, not in the altar's direction.

Although visibly overwhelmed, the Virgin, the centre of these supplications, express compassion.

She carries within her the hope that God will answer them and that the heavens will open to the deceased.

Only she can intercede between the Medici and divine grace.

Madonna and Child