St. John the Baptist (the Doni tondo) 1506 by Michelango
The
Doni Tondo or
Doni Madonna, sometimes called
The Holy Family is the earliest of only three surviving panel paintings by Michelangelo and the only one to be finished.Located in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy, 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.
She can be seen as in a motherly way, and also as a regal and royal woman. 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.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 is the most prominent figure in the composition, taking up much of the center of the image.
Mary sits directly on 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.
Joseph has a higher position in the image compared to Mary, as the head of the 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. John the Baptist is a traditional inclusion of Florentines in works depicting the Madonna and Child.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.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. 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.
There is a horizontal band separating the foreground and background, whose function is to separate the from the background figures and St. John the Baptist. 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. The Holy Family all gaze at Christ, but none of the nudes look directly at him.The far background contains a landscape.
