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Doni Tondo
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The Doni Tondo or Doni Madonna is the one of only three surviving panel paintings by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti (c. 1503), and the only one to be finished. It is in the Uffizi of Florence in its original frame, designed by Michelangelo himself. The painting was likely commissioned by Agnolo Doni, a wealthy weaver, to commemorate his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi of the Strozzis, a powerful Tuscan family.
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The Doni Tondo or Doni Madonna is the one of only three surviving panel paintings by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti (c. 1503), and the only one to be finished. It is in the Uffizi of Florence in its original frame, designed by Michelangelo himself. The painting was likely commissioned by Agnolo Doni, a wealthy weaver, to commemorate his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi of the Strozzis, a powerful Tuscan family. The painting is in the form of a tondo, or round frame, which is frequently associated with marriage in the Renaissance.
The work was created during the period after the Roman Pietà and before the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes. It was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, as well as a work by Luca Signorelli and cameos in the Palazzo Medici. The Doni Tondo features the Holy family (the Christ child, Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Baptist. The background contains several ambiguous nude male figures. The inclusion of these nude figures has a variety of interpretations.
Sources
The composition is based on the cartoon for Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin and Child with St. Anne. Michelangelo saw the drawing in 1501 while in Florence working on the David. Like the earlier cartoon, Michelangelo’s figures seem to be compacted into very little pictorial space and a similar bilaterally symmetrical triangular composition is employed.
The work is also associated with Luca Signorelli’s Medici Madonna in the Uffizi. Signorelli’s work depicts similar unexplained nude male figures in the background. Like the Doni Tondo, Signorelli’s work is a tondo, which displays the Virgin sitting directly on the earth. Michelangelo probably knew of the work and its ideas, and he wanted to incorporate them into his own work by improving them.
Three aspects of the painting can be attributed to an antique sardonyx cameo and a fifteenth century relief from the circle of Donatello, both of which were available to Michelangelo in the Palazzo Medici: the circular from, masculinity of Mary, and the positioning of the Christ Child. The Virgin’s right arm mirrors the arm of the satyr. The Christ Child, who is located on the shoulders of both the satyr and Mary, holds himself up by placing his hands on their respective heads. Moreover, the two-dimensional effect created by having the central figures so close to the picture plane, mirrors the similar technique seen in antique reliefs, including the cameos.
Composition
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. The far background contains a landscape.
The surface treatment of the massive figures resemble a sculpture more than a painting. The Holy Family is set apart because of their special sanctification and are much larger in size than the nudes in the background. There appears to be water in between the land where the Holy Family is situated and the nudes in the background. It most likely refers to baptism. The Holy Family all gaze at Christ, but none of the nudes look directly at him.
Holy Family
The Virgin is the most prominent figure in the composition, taking up much of the center of the image. The Virgin is shown in an authoritative manner. Mary sits directly on the ground without the 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, a theme that helps communicate the idea of salvation. She was sanctified to have a direct role in salvation. This theme is known as the Virgin of Humility, where the Virgin sits directly on the ground. The green grass represents salvation and the dirt represents the damned.
Joseph represents a triple role as the father of Christ, head of the Holy Family, and the husband of Mary. As the father, he named Christ, held him as a baby, and taught him literacy. As the head of the family, he took care of them and covered up Christ’s miraculous birth until the time of his ministry. As a husband, he cared for Mary. In the image, he has a higher position in the image compared to Mary, as the head of the family. He is also holding the Christ child like a father-figure. Mary is located between his legs, as if protecting her. Joseph’s triple role began to increase in importance and emphasis during the fifteenth century, including the belief by some that he also received sanctification before birth.
John the Baptist is a traditional inclusion of Florentines in works depicting the Madonna and Child. Moreover, the first four sons of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi-Doni, were named Giovanni Battista (after the saint) before they died shortly after being born. He his in the same space as the nudes, but is set apart from them by his posture and size. John, like the other members of the Holy Family, received sanctification before birth. He, however, is placed in the area between Divinity and sinners. The elements around the figure, such as the plants, sinners, and water represent salvation through baptism.
Nudes
The nude figures of the background are leaning or sitting on a half-moon, which is a common element in the Strozzi arms. The two nude youths on the right of the work have been interpreted as homosexual lovers. Other explanations for the inclusion of the figures include that they are shepherds, people waiting to be baptized, athletes of the Church, wingless angels, the five major prophets of the Old Testament, or the various ages of man.
They might be interpreted as the sinners who have removed their clothes for cleansing and purification through baptism. The water, which separates the sinners from the Holy Family can therefore be seen as the “waters of separation” mentioned in the Bible. If this interpretation holds true, then the figures on the right represent the origins of the bisexuality of humankind and are waiting to be cleansed of their sins. Their place near John the Baptist with a cross refers to the hope that all sinners have of being forgiven of their sins and can be purified through baptism.
A feminine looking youth figure is located on the right, which may stand for the human soul. Michelangelo also depicts the human soul as a feminine form in the creation of man scene on the Sistine ceiling. In Florence, there had been a debate from the middle fifteenth century until around the time this image was created, which discussed the immortality of the human soul and its place in the universe. Michelangelo visually depicts the argument of Marsilio Ficino, who believed that mankind was central in the universe and could reach the sphere of God with the correct behavior. The five figures may also 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.
Another explanation is that the group of two figures represent the human and divine natures of Christ, while the other three represent the Trinity. In contrast, the three figures on the right could also refer to earthly love. The two men embracing could stand for reciprocal love, while the third could stand as the unrequited lover. Earthly love leads to the resurrection of the soul, and without it, the soul is dead. If this interpretation is correct, the Holy Family would most likely stand for Divine Love.
Plant symbology
The plant in front of John the Baptist has aspects of both hyssop and cornflower. Cornflower is an attribute of Christ and symbolizes Heaven. Hyssop symbolizes both the humility of Christ and baptism. Because it grows from a wall, it is likely a hyssop. There is a citron tree in the background, which represents the Cedar of Lebanon. Michelangelo uses the hyssop and tree as a visual representation of a quote by Rabanus Maurus, "From the Cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which grows on a stony wall we have an explanation of the Divinity which Christ has in his Father and of the humanity that he derives from the Virgin Mary." The clover in the foreground represents the Trinity and salvation. The anemone plant represents the Trinity and the Passion of Christ.
Explanations
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.
One interpretation is 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. She is both the mother of Christ and the best intercessor for appealing to Christ. The image follows a Maculist point of view, which is a philosophy of the Dominican order, rejecting the idea of the Immaculate Conception. Instead, the image depicts the moment of Mary’s sanctification, which is the moment of the incarnation of Christ. Michelangelo, who had been strongly influenced by the Dominican Fra Girolamo Savonarola in Florence, is defending the Maculist point of view within the image. The Christ Child blesses Mary as during a sanctification. Michelangelo depicts Christ as if he is growing out of Mary’s shoulder to take human form. One leg is hanging limply and the other is not visible at all, and therefore must still be apart of Mary. Moreover, his muscles and balance convey an upward movement, as if he is growing out of her. He is above Mary because he is superior to her. The Maculist view is that the Virgin did not receive her sanctification at birth, but at the moment of the incarnation of Christ.
Another explanation is that the nudes in the background represent “the epoch before the Law”, the Holy Family represents “the era of Grace”, and John the Baptist represents the time between.
Evidence of Michelangelo's style
The Doni Tondo is the only existing panel picture Michelangelo painted without the aid of assistants. 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. Skin of the figures is so smooth, it looks as if the medium is marble. 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. Michelangelo’s technique includes shading from the most intense colors first to the lighter shades on top, using the darker colors as shadows, which is a technique called cangiante. The masculinity of Mary could also be explained by Michelangelo’s use of male models for female figures. The central figures are silhouetted against the background. The most vibrant color is located within the Virgin’s garments, which signifies her importance within the image.
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