A long-lost polychrome sculpture of the Madonna and Child, dating back to the early 15th century, has been dramatically restored and was recently shown to the public for the first time in over seventy years. Earlier this week, the medieval sculpture was unveiled at the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence and placed temporarily on the altar of the Brancacci Chapel.
The high-relief stucco sculpture, measuring 60 by 42 centimetres, had been forgotten in the church’s storage rooms since the mid-20th century. “The last to mention it in the church were the Paatz couple who, in 1952, in their monumental work on Florentine churches, cited it on the altar dedicated to the Archangel Raphael, the last on the right when entering the church,” explains Beatrice Rosa, a doctoral researcher at the University of Trento who led the historical investigation into the piece. “It was probably around that time that the work was moved to the Carmelite convent and subsequently stored and forgotten in the deposit where it was recently found.”
Rosa’s research uncovered that the sculpture was originally donated in 1642 by a “pious woman,” and just two years later, it was installed on the altar of the Brancacci Chapel—directly overlooking the famous frescoes of Masaccio, Masolino, and Filippino Lippi. “It remained there until at least 1869,” Rosa notes. “The sculpture became an object of popular devotion. It was carried in procession every summer for nearly 250 years, and a gilded tabernacle was commissioned to house it—still in use today.”
A Rare Example of Medieval Devotional Art
Rosa confirms that the sculpture can “certainly be dated to the very early 15th century” and belongs to “the important phenomenon of the ‘revival of terracotta’ that began in Florence at the dawn of the 15th century.” It is a Madonna and Child made for personal devotion, created using the “a calco” casting method.
“Alongside the production of sculptures in the round,” Rosa explains, “Florentine modelers introduced this profitable serial practice: from a sculpted or directly modelled work—commonly called a prototype—a negative mould in plaster was made from which an indefinite number of reliefs of the same type could be cast.”
“This approach became so successful,” she adds, “that it’s almost impossible to find a 15th-century inventory of a Florentine palace that doesn’t list at least ‘a plaster Madonna in a tabernacle.’”
The stucco from Santa Maria del Carmine “belongs to the most replicated type of the 15th century, traditionally attributed to Lorenzo Ghiberti. More than a hundred examples can be linked to this group, preserved in cities and museums both in Italy and abroad,” Rosa says. “But none can compare to the Madonna and Child of Santa Maria del Carmine, which holds the crown for quality without rivals.”
A Stunning Restoration Brings Colours and Details to Light
The restoration, carried out by Nicoletta Marcolongo and Angela Tascioni of Studio Ardiglione, with oversight from the ABAP Superintendency of Florence and support from Friends of Florence, has brought the sculpture’s original beauty to light. When first examined, the surface appeared as a dark brown monochrome, obscured by grime and overpainting.
The cleaning process, carried out with different techniques for different areas, revealed the original colour palette: flesh tones in the faces, a blue mantle, and arabesque decorations on the garments. “Interesting details,” notes the restoration report, “such as the Child’s polka-dot tunic and the ring on the Virgin’s right-hand ring finger, were still preserved despite widespread abrasions.”
The removal of old paint layers and surface grime was guided by stratigraphic analyses carried out on micro-samples of the preparatory and painted layers. The restoration included stabilising and consolidating these layers, filling gaps with stucco, and reintegrating the missing colour where necessary.
The sculpture’s brief reappearance in the Brancacci Chapel was part of a larger initiative supported by Friends of Florence, which included a symposium on the chapel’s art and conservation. While that event focused on the frescoes by Masaccio and his collaborators, the return of the Madonna and Child offered a poignant reminder of the devotional life that once animated the chapel.
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