Donatello’s ‘Madonna di Pietrapiana’ Discovery

Shortlisted for the 2024 Apollo Awards, The Madonna di Pietrapiana (c. 1450-1455) – a relatively recent purchase by the Ministry of Culture has found its home in Florence’s Bargello Museum. The terracotta by master Renaissance sculptor Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello, was only attributed to the artist in 1986. The original location of the relief was a tabernacle on the facade of a building at Via Pietrapiana 38 in Florence. For years the relief has been studied and revered, but it has not had a permanent home. This changed in 2021 when the Ministry of Culture purchased the piece for €1,200,000 and assigned it to the collection of the Bargello.

The Bargello became the first National Italian Museum dedicated to the arts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in June of 1865. Since then it has maintained an impressive collection spanning the three floors of the historic building. This includes their Salone di Donatello which is located on the first floor. The Salone di Donatello hosts well-known masterpieces by Donatello such as his David, Attis, San Giorgio, and more. This makes the Bargello an ideal location for a work as important as the Madonna of Pietrapiana. The relief depicts a beautifully detailed image of the Madonna embracing a baby Jesus, holding him to her chest with their faces resting on each other. It is a simple, intimate moment that reiterates why Donatello is such an important artist to this day. The discovery of the terracotta is a very important one to the art world, and is an incredibly exciting acquisition for the Bargello Museum. 

Former director of the Bargello Museum, Paola D’Agostino said, “The Donatello Salon is a unique place in the world to understand the long and extraordinary activity of Donatello, the greatest artist of the Renaissance…From today the Madonna and Child of via Pietrapiana will be exhibited in this special place, alongside the master’s other masterpieces and in dialogue with the works of Luca della Robbia, Nanni di Banco and other fifteenth-century artists.”

This new discovery isn’t the only exciting thing going on at Bargello right now though. The new Medal Hall and Baroque Sculpture Hall. For a museum famous for their Medieval and Renaissance art, the addition of a Baroque room brings some changes to the collection of the Bargello. The medals of the Bargello boast a collection of over 10 thousand pieces, making it one of the most valuable collections in the world. Some of the themes of the medals include the Medici medals, the papal medals, portraits of artists and writers, as well as architecture medals. The collection spans from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, displaying the richness and uniqueness of some of the most important medal production of the time. In the Baroque Hall, guests are greeted with the famous Costanza Bonarelli (1630). This piece was known to have been in Bernini’s studio for a long time until it was donated to Cardinal Giovan Carlo de’ Medici in 1645. It was located in the Uffizi until 1873 when it was relocated to the Bargello. At that time it was a standout piece amongst the more traditional Renaissance art. Now it is displayed amongst a few other important Baroque pieces allowing for guests to see a more comprehensive glance into the contrasts of Baroque art in comparison to their far larger collection of Renaissance and Medieval sculptures. 

The 2024 Apollo Award, given annually to the best acquisition by a museum, went to the Louvre for the purchase of Cimabue’s “Mocking of Christ.”

The Bargello is a museum with a long important history that is still making important contributions to the art world today. With important new acquisitions and new halls opening, there is always more to see.  (Claire Ryan)