Doni Tondo (Doni Madonna or The Holy Family)

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Doni Tondo (Doni Madonna or The Holy Family): Michelangelo

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Michelangelo Various Paintings - Doni Tondo (Doni Madonna or The Holy Family)

Keywords: Doni, Tondo, Doni, Madonna, Holy, Family

Work Overview: Doni Tondo (Doni Madonna or The Holy Family)
Artist Michelangelo
Year circa 1507
Type Oil and tempera on panel
Dimensions 120 cm diameter ( 47 1⁄2 in)
Location Uffizi, Florence

The Doni Tondo or Doni Madonna, sometimes called The Holy Family, is the only finished panel painting by the mature Michelangelo to survive.[1] Now in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy, and still in its original frame, the painting was probably commissioned by Agnolo Doni to commemorate his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi, the daughter of a powerful Tuscan family.[2] The painting is in the form of a tondo, or round frame, which is frequently associated during the Renaissance with domestic ideas.[3]

The work was most likely created during the period after the Doni's marriage in 1503 or 1504, as well as after the excavation of the Laocoön about 1506, yet before the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes were begun in 1508, dating the painting to approximately late 1506 or 1507.[4] The Doni Tondo features the Christian Holy family (the child Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) along with John the Baptist in the foreground and contains five ambiguous nude male figures in the background. The inclusion of these nude figures has been interpreted in a variety of ways.

Mary is the most prominent figure in the composition, taking up much of the center of the image.[5] She sits directly on the ground without a cushion between herself and the ground, to better communicate the theme of her relationship to the earth.[6] The grass directly below the figure is green, which sharply contrasts to the grassless ground surrounding her, although the green is now darker and less visible than it was originally.[7] Joseph has a higher position in the image compared to Mary, perhaps as the head of the family, although this is an unusual feature in compositions of the Holy Family. Mary is located between his legs, as if he is protecting her. There is some debate as to whether Mary is receiving the Christ child from Joseph or vice versa.[8] Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, is very commonly included in Florentine works depicting the Madonna and Child.[9] He is in the middle-ground of the painting, between the Holy Family and the background. The elements around the family include plants and perhaps water.

The painting is still in its original frame, one that Michelangelo might have influenced or helped design.[10] The frame is ornately carved and rather unusual for the five heads it contains which protrude three-dimensionally into space. Similar to the nudes of the background, the meanings of these heads has been subject to speculation. The frame also contains carvings of crescent moons, stars, vegetation, and lions’ heads. These symbols are, perhaps, references to the Doni and Strozzi families, taken from each one’s coat of arms.[11] As depicted on the frame, “the moons are bound together with ribbons that interlock with the lions,” possibly referencing the marriage of the two families.[11]

There is a horizontal band separating the foreground and background, whose function is to separate the Holy Family from the background figures and St. John the Baptist.[8][9][12] The background figures are five nudes, whose meaning and function are subject to much speculation and debate. The Holy Family is much larger in size than the nudes in the background, and there appears to be water in between the land where the Holy Family and the nudes are situated.[8] The Holy Family all gaze at Christ, but none of the nudes look directly at him.[13] The far background contains a landscape.

The Doni Tondo is believed to be the only existing panel picture Michelangelo painted without the aid of assistants;[9] and, unlike his Manchester Madonna and Entombment (both National Gallery, London), the attribution to him has never been questioned. The juxtaposition of bright colors foreshadows the same use of color in Michelangelo’s later Sistine ceiling frescoes. The folds of the drapery are sharply modeled, and the skin of the figures is so smooth, it looks as if the medium is marble.[9] The surface treatment of the massive figures resembles a sculpture more than a painting.[14] The nude figures in the background have softer modeling and look to be precursors to the ignudi, the male nude figures in the Sistine Ceiling frescoes.[9] Michelangelo’s technique includes shading from the most intense colors first to the lighter shades on top, using the darker colors as shadows, a technique called cangiante.[15] By applying the pigment in a certain way, Michelangelo created an "unfocused" effect in the background and focused detail in the foreground.[7] The most vibrant color is located within the Virgin’s garments, signifying her importance within the image.[16] X-rays of the painting show that Michelangelo incorporated every known pigment used at the time.[7] The masculinity of Mary could be explained by Michelangelo’s use of male models for female figures, as was done for the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo used a limited palette of pigments[17] comprising lead white, azurite, verdigris and few others. He avoided ochres and used very little vermilion.

The composition is, most likely, partially influenced by the cartoon (term referring to a two-dimensional preliminary drawing) for Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin and Child with St. Anne. Like this earlier 'cartoon', Michelangelo’s figures seem to be compacted into very little pictorial space and a similar bilaterally symmetrical triangular composition is employed. Michelangelo saw the drawing in 1501 while in Florence working on the David.[9]

The Doni Tondo is also associated with Luca Signorelli’s Medici Madonna in the Uffizi.[19] Michelangelo probably knew of the work and its ideas, and he wanted to incorporate those ideas into his own work. Signorelli’s Madonna similarly uses a tondo form, depicts nude male figures in the background, and displays the Virgin sitting directly on the earth.[8]

Three aspects of the painting can be attributed to an antique sardonyx cameo and a 15th-century relief from the circle of Donatello, available to Michelangelo in the Palazzo Medici: the circular form, the masculinity of Mary, and the positioning of the Christ Child.[19] The Virgin’s right arm mirrors the arm of the satyr in the cameo, and the cameo also depicts an infant located on the shoulders of the satyr, a position similar to the Christ Child on Mary’s shoulders.[12]

Additionally, some scholars suggest that Michelangelo was inspired by the famous Greco-Roman group of Laocoön and His Sons, excavated in 1506, which Michelangelo would have seen.[4] The body positioning and muscular syle of the nude figures in the background of the Doni Tondo resemble the twisting contortions of the figures captured by the serpent in the Laocoön.

Furthermore, the inclusion of the five protruding heads in the paintings frame is often seen as referencing a similar motif found on Ghiberti's Porta del Paradiso, the bronze doors of the Florence baptistry which Michelangelo was known to greatly admire.

There are a multitude of interpretations for the various parts of the work. Most interpretations differ in defining the relationship between the Holy Family and the figures in the background.[5]

Paul Barolsky argues that the Doni Tondo is a "devotional image […] more than an example of style, symbolism, [or] iconography".[22] Barolsky bases much of his thesis on the language used by Giorgio Vasari in his work Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times. His support for the idea of devotion comes from Christ being presented in the painting like a gift, which he links to the painting’s patron due to a perceived pun on the Italian word for "gift," "donare," and the patron’s name, Doni. Furthering the Christ-as-gift metaphor, Mary’s holding of Christ in the painting is seen to reference the elevating of the host during mass.[23]

Mirella D’Ancona argues that the image reflects Michelangelo’s views on the roles of the members of the Holy Family in human salvation and the soul’s immortality. The Virgin’s placement and emphasis is due to her role in human salvation.[5] She is both the mother of Christ and the best intercessor for appealing to him. Michelangelo, who had been strongly influenced by the Dominican Fra Girolamo Savonarola in Florence, is using the picture to defend the Maculist point of view, a philosophy of the Dominican order rejecting the idea of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.[5] The Maculist view is that the Virgin did not receive her sanctification at birth but at the moment of the incarnation of Christ; thus, the image depicts the moment of Mary’s sanctification by showing the Christ Child blessing her. Michelangelo depicts Christ as if he is growing out of Mary’s shoulder to take human form, one leg hanging limply and the other not visible at all, therefore making him a part of Mary. Moreover, his muscles and balance convey an upward movement, as if he is growing out of her, although he is above Mary, asserting his superiority to her.[6] Furthermore, she argues that the nudes are to be interpreted as sinners who have removed their clothes for cleansing and purification through baptism. The water, which separates the sinners from the Holy Family, just beyond the horizontal band in the middle of the painting, can therefore be seen as the “waters of separation” mentioned in the Bible. She also argues that the five figures may represent the five parts of the soul: the higher soul (soul and intellect) on the left and the lower soul (imagination, sensation, and nourishing faculty) on the right, a visual depiction of the views of Marsilio Ficino, whom Michelangelo references in other works.[24] Additionally, in looking at them as separate groupings, she suggest that the two figures on Mary’s right represents the human and divine natures of Christ, while the three on her left represent the Trinity.[13]

Andrée Hayum argues that the commissioning of the tondo by the Doni family helped to emphasize the "secular and domestic ideals" of the painting rather than seeing it as a "devotional object."[3] In choosing a tondo as the format for the picture, Michelangelo is referencing the form’s long association with depicting the "Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity, [and] the Madonna and Child."[3] Hayum also finds many allusions to Noah throughout the work. She posits a referencing of the Madonna to Noah’s daughter-in-law, a sibyl, which thus makes Joseph an embodiment of Noah himself.[25] Hayum further supports this by acknowledging the direct link between Joseph and Noah as depicted in Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling paintings.[26] This link to Noah also gives an explanation to the nudes in the background, whose forms may have inspired the sons in the Drunkenness of Noah.[27] The allusion to the Noah story also brings up themes of baptismal water, thus giving rise to an interpretation of the nudes similar to D’Ancona’s: "catechumens awaiting baptism" from John the Baptist, whose "isolation within a pit-like space" indicates his special role as baptizer.[10]

Roberta Olson states that the painting depicts the "importance of the family" and is related to "Doni’s hoped-for descendants."[28] One of the ways in which the painting depicts a "good marriage" is by the seemingly "reciprocal action" of the handling of Jesus between Joseph and Mary.[29] Much importance is given to Joseph by way of the colors of his clothes: yellow, indicating the divine aspect of the family as well as "truth," and purple, standing for royal lineage tracing from the House of David.[29] Additionally, Joseph is important to the painting by referencing the middle name of the "Doni’s third child who lived beyond infancy."[30] Themes of baptism also are referenced by the influence of Ghiberti's Porta del Paradiso on the paintings frame. Located on the doors of the Florentine Baptistry, these sculptural reliefs give reference to the rite of baptism, important for the Doni's and their desire for a child as a product of the good marriage exampled by the Holy Family, perhaps one reasoning behind the commissioning of the work.

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This Holy Family dates back to the time when Michelangelo returned to Florence after his first stay in Rome, the same period when the great artist sculpted the famous David.

The work (c. 1506-1508) is the only painting by Michelangelo in Florence and is considered one of the masterpieces of the XVI century Italian art.

During the Renaissance, the “tondo” was a typical work for private clients. It was commissioned by the wealthy banker Agnolo Doni, probably at the time of his marriage to Maddalena, member of the very important Strozzi family.

The figures of Mary, Joseph and the Child, are grouped in a single volume in which the rotation of the Madonna gives the composition a spiral movement that will later be used by many artists. In the background a group of young nudes brings to mind a classic theme, symbolizing the pagan humanity still ignorant of Christian doctrine. It is also interesting to notice the beautiful carved wooden frame, designed by Michelangelo himself.

From the artistic point of view, the Tondo Doni laid the foundations of the so-called Mannerism, the style of painting that preferred bizarre, unnatural poses and iridescent colors to the composed painting of the XV century.

The Tondo Doni is therefore a very important work of art because it is one of the few examples of Michelangelo’s painting, together with the magnificent frescoes in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

The Doni Tondo, sometimes called The Holy Family, is the only finished panel painting by the mature Michelangelo to survive. Now in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy, and still in its original frame, the painting was probably commissioned by Agnolo Doni to commemorate his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi, the daughter of a powerful Tuscan family. The painting is in the form of a tondo, or round frame, which is frequently associated during the Renaissance with domestic ideas.

The work was most likely created during the period after the Doni's marriage in 1503 or 1504, as well as after the excavation of the Laocoon about 1506, yet before Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes were begun in 1508, dating the painting to approximately late 1506 or 1507. The Doni Tondo features the Christian Holy family (the child Jesus, Mary, and Saint Joseph) along with John the Baptist in the foreground and contains five ambiguous nude male figures in the background. The inclusion of these nude figures has been interpreted in a variety of ways.

The Virgin Mary is the most prominent figure in the composition, taking up much of the center of the image. Mary sits directly on the ground without a cushion between herself and the ground, to better communicate the theme of her relationship to the earth. The grass directly below the figure is green, which sharply contrasts to the grassless ground surrounding her, although the green is now darker and less visible than it was originally. Saint Joseph has a higher position in the image compared to Mary, perhaps as the head of the family, although this is an unusual feature in compositions of the Holy Family. Mary is located between his legs, as if he is protecting her. There is some debate as to whether Mary is receiving the Christ child from Joseph or vice-versa.

The painting is still in its original frame, one that Michelangelo might have influenced or helped design. The frame is ornately carved and rather unusual for the five heads it contains which protrude three-dimensionally into space. Similar to the nudes of the background, the meanings of these heads has been subject to speculation.

The composition is, most likely, partially influenced by The Virgin and Child with St. Anne of Leonardo da Vinci. Like this earlier cartoon, Michelangelo's figures seem to be compacted into very little pictorial space and a similar bilaterally symmetrical triangular composition is employed. Michelangelo saw the drawing in 1501 while in Florence working on the David.

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The Doni Tondo is a circular panel painting of The Holy Family painted by the great renaissance polymath Michelangelo Buonarroti. The picture is surrounded by a wood-gilt frame designed, but not carved, by the artist. It was commissioned by the Florentine businessman Agnolo Doni to commemorate his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi from the powerful Florentine family who rivaled the Medici in the early years of the fifteenth century. Why Agnolo commissioned a renowned sculptor to paint this picture, and why Michelangelo agreed to execute the work, remains a mystery. However Michelangelo, despite his limited experience of tempera painting, has created a masterpiece of composition, beauty and invention.

The composition features the Madonna seated on the ground. She reaches over her shoulder towards her child. Joseph squats behind her and we are left uncertain whether it is Joseph who passes the infant to Mary or it is the mother who passes the child to his father. Mary's clothing consists of a vivid primary red dress and blue mantle complimented by a strip of green. The yellow-orange of Joseph's garments are covered by a deep blue tunic. The tempera pigment has retained the brightness so typical of that medium.

In Michelangelo's clever composition the three heads form an inverted triangle balanced and supported by the positioning of the arms. The figures interact in a intense and intimate way, the action flows from Joseph's eyes, which are firmly fixed on the child, who in turn looks at his mother with head tilted downwards. Mary's face is a picture of adoration and love as her eyes roll upward to meet the gaze of her son. This is the most tender grouping of figures ever produced by Michelangelo.

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In the early 1500’s (probably around 1507) Michelangelo painted a Holy Family on a round-shaped panel for the rich Florentine merchant Agnolo Doni who, says historian Giorgio Vasari, enjoyed collecting beautiful things both from ancient and modern authors. This painting is the only panel unanimously attributed to Michelangelo and it is best known as Doni Tondo, from the name of his buyer. The round shape (tondo) was commonly used in the Florentine tradition to celebrate the birth of a child (desco da parto). The panel is now conserved at the Uffizi, in Florence, and it is still in its original frame, probably designed by Michelangelo and superbly carved by Marco and Francesco del Tasso. It was painted after the sculpture of David and it clearly reflects, in the colours which shape the volumes, the experience of Michelangelo as a sculptor. The panel anticipates Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel ceiling and has an evident role in determining the canons of painting during the whole XVI century, initiating the period of Mannerism. The use of the colours in this painting is noteworthy. It is perfectly coherent with the bright colours of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, recovered by the 1980’s restoration. This is a good point against the criticism levelled to the restoration.

The Doni Tondo is a famous painting by Michelangelo, also known as the Doni Madonna, or the Holy Family. It is a panel painting in a round frame and holds the distinction of being the only such painting that is indisputably Michelangelo’s work. The painting was done as a commissioned work for Agnolo Doni to mark the occasion of his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi.

When and How Was It Made?
Art historians have dated the painting to either 1506 or 1507, and it was certainly done immediately before Michelangelo began working on his immense Sistine Chapel project.
As a depiction of the Holy Family of Christianity, the Doni Tondo has several unique characteristics. Mary appears at the center of the composition, Joseph stands behind her, and the infant Jesus is being held by both mother and father, while John the Baptist is prominent in the right middle ground.

Just between the foreground and John is a horizontal curb or band that serves as a separation. In the background on both sides are 5 nudes, and historians are still undecided as to their significance in the work as a whole. Behind the nude figures and forming the backdrop for the entire round painting is a landscape of rocky hills. The frame itself is part of the work and is three dimensional, with human heads, plants and flowers among other objects carved into the wood.

What Is Its Significance?
The Doni Tondo is known to be the only time Michelangelo painted without an assistant. As such it employs and exemplifies many of his signature techniques, methods he would put to masterful use in later and larger works. The figures and draped clothing have the smooth and slightly unreal look of sculpture, and the contrast between brighter and more subdued colors is striking. He uses a shading method that lends a softer almost unfocused quality to the background figures, while making sure that the primary figures stand out in sharp detail.

The Doni tondo is Michelangelo's sole unanimously accepted panel painting. His only other documented easel painting, The Leda and the Swan, seems to have been destroyed and must be reconstructed from autograph drawings and copies. The tondo was probably produced for the same Doni for whom Raphael painted the pair of portraits, now in the Palazzo Pitti.

The Holy Family is in the foreground. The Virgin, a muscular young woman, is turning round with a complicated movement to take the Christ Child Joseph is handing to her over her shoulder. The meaning of this scene is both theologically and philosophically obscure, as is the significance of the naked young men in the background.

The spectacular gilt wood frame, attributed to the Tasso family of woodcarvers, displays the Doni family arms with lions on them intermingled with Strozzi crescents. As well as grotesques, the frame contains the heads of two prophets and two sibyls surmounted by one of Christ. The outstanding quality of these busts - evoking similar figures of Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise - has lead some scholars to believe that Michelangelo may have had a hand in designing the frame.

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