National Gallery Imaginarium
Spark your imagination in a virtual space to interact with our paintings.
Michelangelo, ''The Manchester Madonna'', about 1494
About the work
Overview
This is probably the earliest of Michelangelo’s surviving paintings. It is unfinished – the black modelling of the Virgin Mary’s cloak has not had its final coats of blue, and the angels to the left have barely been begun. We don't know why the picture was never completed.
The Virgin sits on a rock with the Christ Child and young John the Baptist next to her. Angels stand on either side – we can make out the two on the left only by the lines drawn in to mark out the folds in their clothes and by the areas of greenish underpainting traditionally used to balance the pinkish flesh tones that would be painted over them.
Saint John the Baptist in his camel skin looks out past us, perhaps to suggest his role in preparing the way for Christ’s ministry. The way the figures fill almost the entire panel is similar to a marble relief and reflects Michelangelo’s training as a sculptor.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels ('The Manchester Madonna')
- Artist
- Michelangelo
- Artist dates
- 1475 - 1564
- Date made
- about 1494
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 104.5 × 77 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1870
- Inventory number
- NG809
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 16th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Almost certainly identifiable with a picture in the Villa Borghese, Rome by the end of the seventeenth century (Domenico Montelatici: Villa Borghese fuori di Porta Pinciana, Rome, 1700, p. 210: ‘dipinto dal Buonaroti, benche non del tutto terminato, in cui vien figurata Maria Vergine con Giesù bambino, e. S. Giouanni Battista in mezzo à quattro Angioli’). What was certainly the same picture is recorded in the Borghese inventories of 1725 and 1765 (identical words): ‘Un quadro in Tavola con la Madonna, Gesù Cristo e S. Giovanni con quattro altre figure, cioè due dipinte e due disegnate, dentro una Cornice di legno negra, venata di bianco di pmi 5½ × 4½ incirca’. This picture seems to have left the Villa Borghese by 1790. Probably picked up by Alexander Day during the upheavals following the Napoleonic invasion of Italy (C. F. von Rumohr: Italienische Forschungen, 1831, vol. 3, p. 96: ‘Wir besitzen einige malerische Versuche des Michelangelo, welche in die Jahre 1500 bis 1506 fallen: das Rund a tempera in der florentinischen Gallerie (1503); das (wohl ältere) schönere, halbbeendigte Gemälde a tempera, sonst im Besitze der Madame Day zu Rom, jetzt in England.’) Alexander Day sale, Pantechnicon, 21st June, 1833 (31), bought Seguier. Purchased by H. Bonar. Offered to the Gallery (as Ghirlandajo) by Mrs. Bonar in 1844. Exh. (by Mrs. Bonar) B.I., 1847 (59—as Ghirlandajo). Sold, 1849, by Colnaghi for Mrs. Bonar to H. Labouchère (afterwards Lord Taunton) who exh. it (as Michelangelo) at Manchester in 1857 (100 in provisional catalogue, 107 in definitive catalogue) and B.I., 1859 (15). Exh. by his executors, R.A., 1870 (151) and purchased from them, 1870.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1987; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2017The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & SebastianoThe National Gallery (London)15 March 2017 - 25 June 2017
Bibliography
-
1700D. Montelatici, Villa Borghese fuori di Porta Pinciana, Rome 1700
-
1725Rome, Borghese Gallery Archive, Busta 1032: Fondo Borghese dell' Archivio Segreto Vaticano, 1725
-
1827C.F. von Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen, 3 vols, Berlin 1827
-
1833Christie & Manson, A Catalogue of the Very Capital Collection of Italian Pictures Made by Alexander Day, Esq., in Italy, London, 21 June 1833
-
1847British Institution, Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters, with which the Proprietors have Favoured the Institution: June 1847, London 1847
-
1853National Gallery, Report from the Select Committee on the National Gallery, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index, London 1853
-
1853London, National Gallery Archive, NG15/3: Report from the Select Committee on the National Gallery, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index, 1853
-
1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
-
1857G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], translated from German by Elizabeth Eastlake, 3 vols, London 1857, vol. 3
-
1857G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Collected at Manchester in 1857, London 1857
-
1857G.F. Waagen, What to Observe: A Walk through the Art Treasures Exhibition, London 1857
-
1859British Institution, Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters, with which the Proprietors have Favoured the Institution: June 1859, London 1859
-
1859C. Blanc, 'La vierge de Manchester, tableau de Michel-Ange', Gazette des beaux-arts, I, 1859, pp. 257-69
-
1870Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, associated with a Collection from the Works of Charles Robert Leslie, R.A., and C. Phillip Clarkson, R.A., London, Royal Academy (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 1870), London 1870
-
1887C. Blanc, 'Correspondence d'Angleterre', Gazette des beaux-arts, I, 1887, pp. 257-66
-
1891G. Frizzoni, Arte italiana del Rinascimento, Milan 1891
-
1907F. Knapp, Michelangelo: Des Meisters Werke, Leipzig 1907
-
1907C.J. Holmes, 'Where did Michelangelo Learn to Paint?', The Burlington Magazine, XI/52, 1907, 235-6
-
1925A.E. Popp, 'Garzoni Michelangelos', Belvedere, VIII, 1925, pp. 6-28
-
1928F. Filippini, Michelangelo a Bologna nel 1493-1495: Un sonetto per una bolognese, il 'S. Giovannino' di Berlino, la 'Madonna del libro' di Londra, Bologna 1928
-
1932A. Venturi, 'Pittura attributa a Michelangelo opera di Jacopini del Conte', L'arte, XXXV/4, 1932, pp. 332-7
-
1935B. Berenson, 'Andrea de Michelangiolo e Antonio Mini', L'arte, VI, 1935, pp. 243-83
-
1936B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento: Catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi, Milan 1936
-
1937G. Fiocco, 'Un'altra pittura giovanile di Michelangelo', Critica d'arte, II/4, 1937
-
1941G. Fiocco, 'Sul inizio pittorico di Michelangelo', Le arti, XX, 1941, pp. 5-10
-
1941R. Longhi, 'A proposito dell'inizio pittorico di Michelangelo', Le arti, XX, 1941
-
1947C. de Tolnay, Michelangelo: The Medici Chapel, 5 vols, Princeton 1948
-
1953F. Zeri, 'Il Maestro della "Madonna di Manchester"', Paragone, XLIII/4, 1953, pp. 15-27
-
1954P. Della Pergola, 'La Madonna di Manchester nella Galleria Borghese', Paragone, LI, 1954, pp. 47-8
-
1961S.J. Freedberg, Painting of the High Renaissance in Rome and Florence, Cambridge MA 1961
-
1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
-
1963B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Work, with an Index of Places: Florentine School, 2 vols, New York 1963
-
1964H. Ruhemann and J. Plesters, 'The Technique of Painting in a "Madonna" attributed to Michelangelo', The Burlington Magazine, CVI/741, 1964, pp. 546-54
-
1969J. Wassermann, 'Michelangelo's Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, at Oxford', The Burlington Magazine, CXI/792, 1969, pp. 122-34
-
1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
-
1978F. Haskell, 'Un martyr de l'attribution: Morris Moore et l'Apollon et Marsyas du Louvre', Revue de l'art, 42, 1978, pp. 77-88
-
1980L. Steinberg, 'The Line of Fate in Michelangelo's Painting', Critical Inquiry, VI/3, 1980, pp. 411-54
-
1984H. Kühn, Farbmittel, Buchmalerei, Tafel- und Leinwandmalerei, Stuttgart 1984
-
1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
-
1992G. Agosti, 'Michelangelo e i Lombardi, a Roma, attorno al 1500', Studies in the History of Art, XXXIII, 1992, pp. 19-36
-
1992C. King, 'Medieval and Renaissance Matrons, Italian-Style', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, LV/3, 1992, pp. 372-93
-
1992P. Barocchi, Il Giardino di San Marco: Maestri e compagni del giovane Michelangelo (exh. cat. Casa Buonarroti, 30 June - 19 October 1992), Silvana 1992
-
1993N. Dacos, 'Il "Criado" portoghese di Michelangelo: Il Maestro della Madonna di Manchester, ossia Pedro Nunyes', Bollettino d'arte, ser. 6, 77, 1993, pp. 29-46
-
1994J. Anderson, 'Letters to the Editor: The "Manchester Madonna"', Times Literary Supplement, 1994
-
1994N. Penny, 'È il suo: It is His. Two Attributions to Michelangelo in the Mid-Nineteenth Century', Times Literary Supplement, 4777, 1994, pp. 16-7
-
1994N. Penny, 'Letters to the Editor: The "Manchester Madonna"', Times Literary Supplement, 1994
-
1994M. Hirst and J. Dunkerton, The Young Michelangelo: The Artist in Rome 1496-1501, (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 19 October 1994-15 January 1995), London 1994
-
1995L. Maffei, Arte e cervello, Bologna 1995
-
1995T. Stockhausen, 'Ein Michelangelo für Berlin?: Otto Mündler und Gustav Friedrich Waagen', Kunstchronik, XLVIII/5, 1995, pp. 177-82
-
1995R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVI, 1995, pp. 85-95
-
1996J.H. Beck, 'Is Michelangelo's Entombment in the National Gallery, Michelangelo's?', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXXVII/1528-1529, 1996, pp. 181-98
-
1996J. Dunkerton and A. Roy, 'The Materials of a Group of Late Fifteenth-Century Florentine Panel Paintings', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVII, 1996, pp. 20-31
-
1996J. Kirby and R. White, 'The Identification of Red Lake Pigment Dyestuffs and a Discussion of their Use', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVII, 1996, pp. 56-80
-
1997M. Hirst, 'La Madonna di Manchester', in M. Hirst and J. Dunkerton (eds), Michelangelo Giovane: Pittore e scultore a Roma, 1496-1501, Modena 1997, pp. 41-50
-
1998J.Á. Lopera, Miguel Ángel, Madrid 1998
-
1999T. Stockhausen, 'Otto Mündler als Agent der Berliner Gemäldegalerie', Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, XXXIX, 1999, pp. 99-113
-
2000A. Nagel, Michelangelo and the Reform of Art, Cambridge 2000
-
2000L. Berti, 'L'astro levatosi al tramonto: Michelangelo e l'ultimo momento di Rinascimento quattrocentesco a Firenze', Critica d'arte, LXIII/5, 2000, pp. 24-44
-
2000K.W. Brandt, Giovinezza di Michelangelo (exh. cat. Palazzo Vecchio, 6 Octpber 1999 - 9 January 2000), Florence 2000
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2002J. Schaeps, 'Michelangelo aan de Rijn. Reproductiegrafiek naar Michelangelo in het Leidse Prentenkabinet', Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XII, 2002, pp. 65-107
-
2002D. Bomford et al., Underdrawings in Renaissance Paintings (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 30 October 2002 - 16 February 2003), London 2002
-
2004L. Syson, 'Bertoldo di Giovanni: Republican Court Artist', in S.J. Campbell (ed.), Artistic Exchange and Cultural Translation in the Italian Renaissance City, Cambridge 2004, pp. 96-133
-
2007C.A. Luchinat, Michelangelo pittore, Milan 2007
-
2007F. Zöllner, Michelangelo, 1475-1564: Complete Works, Cologne 2007
-
2010A. Donati, Ritratto e figura nel manierismo a Roma: Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Jacopino del Conte, Daniele Ricciarelli, San Marino 2010
-
2020E.Y. Dilk, Das Kunstblatt und Vasari: Carl Friedrich von Rumohr im Briefwechsel mit Ludwig Schorn, Hildesheim 2020
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
More works by Michelangelo
This is one of perhaps only three surviving panel paintings by the great Florentine artist Michelangelo. It shows Christ’s body being carried to his tomb. It was probably made for a funerary chapel in the church of S. Agostino, Rome – commissioned in 1500 and left unfinished when Michelangelo ret...
Not on display
Sebastiano del Piombo, incorporating designs by Michelangelo
At the request of Martha and Mary, Jesus visited the grave of their brother Lazarus and raised him from the dead (John 11:1–44). Sebastiano shows Christ standing with one hand raised to invoke the power of God and the other pointing to Lazarus, who is seated on the edge of his stone tomb.Christ s...
Not on display
After Michelangelo
This is an old copy, badly damaged in places, of a now lost painting that Michelangelo made for Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in 1530. The Duke had recently received three mythological paintings from Titian, including the National Gallery’s Bacchus and Ariadne, so in accepting the commission M...
Not on display
After Michelangelo
This painting by an unknown artist is based on Michelangelo’s drawing The Dream (Courtauld Institute, London). Michelangelo’s presentation drawings were made as gifts for his friends and were always intended as self-sufficient works of art. The Dream is probably one of an important group of such...
Not on display
Marcello Venusti, after Michelangelo
Christ lies across his mother’s lap in a position intended to recall the pietà, when his dead body was returned to her after the Crucifixion. Saint Joseph watches him sleeping and the infant John the Baptist raises his finger to his lips, asking us for silence.The Virgin holds open a Bible. The p...
Not on display
