Pazzi Madonna

The Pazzi Madonna  is a rectangular "stiacciato" marble relief sculpture by Donatello, since 1886 in the sculpture collections of the Bode-Museum in Berlin. Dating to around 1420 and 1425 at the beginning of Donatello's collaboration with Michelozzo, it was most likely produced for private devotion and possibly commissioned by the Pazzi family for their home in Florence. The composition was very popular and is known in several copies.

The half figure of Virgin Mary is shown in three-quarter-view, the faces of both mother and child are in profile, with her leaning towards the Christ Child and touching his forehead, her silhouette slightly obscuring his. She holds the baby with her left arm, the hand with braced fingers perspectivally foreshortened, the right hand softly pressing against its shoulder. Neither of them are shown with halos and the emphasis is instead on their tender and intense intimacy, developing themes from the Eleusa-type icon in Byzantine art. The smiling child reaches out his arm to his mother, but their expressions often are described as melancholy, with the suggestion that the Virgin is reflecting on her son's future Passion.