(Florence 1397–1478 Pisa)
The Madonna and Child,
tempera and oil on panel, 43.5 x 29.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Louis Alexander Waldman for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

Paolo di Stefano Badaloni, called Paolo Schiavo, probably trained in the workshop of Lorenzo Monaco in Florence. His apprenticeship under Monaco laid the foundation for Schiavo’s diverse interests: the artist was not only a fresco and panel painter, but also a much sought-after designer and specialist of cassoni and book illumination. He joined the Florentine guild of painters, the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, in 1429. Together with Masolino, who was to have a lasting influence on his future work, he executed the celebrated frescoes in the Collegiata of Castiglione Olona in Lombardy towards the late 1430s. Among his most prominent works are the Madonna and Child with Saints in San Miniato al Monte in Florence from 1436 and the decoration of the Oratorio della Madonna della Querce from 1460. Schiavo subsequently moved to Pisa, where he died in 1478.

The focus of the present painting is on the affectionate relationship between the Madonna and the Child. Inspired by Donatello’s Madonna Pazzi, which influenced Florentine painters of the second quarter of the fifteenth century to create more intimate depictions of the theme, the Child embraces the Madonna, as if about to bestow a kiss. The gold trimmed red cloth of honour, which opens to the outside beyond, accentuates the group while confirming that Paolo Schiavo was firmly rooted in the Florentine tradition. The present painting dates to circa 1440–45, and can be compared to the Madonna and Child with Four Saints in Santa Croce, Florence (see M. Boskovits, Ancora su Paolo Schiavo, in: Arte cristiana, N.S. 83, 1995, pp. 335, 337, fig. 6).