It is indeed a great addition to our stock of art, and is the only work that has appeared in this northern latitude to justify the great reputation of its author". There was considerable discussion with conservators about whether it could be lent to the National Gallery, but it was ultimately deemed safe. It is uncertain whether Michelangelo, known for his concern for his materials, was constrained by a shortage of ready alternatives or more accepting of flaws and confident in his ability to work round them after his success with the damaged block for David. The Renaissance term tondo refers to its circular shape, and it is believed it was sculpted at the beginning of the 16th century, during the artist’s first stay in Florence. The main evidence for Leonardo’s effect on the younger artist is the ‘Taddei Tondo’. Taddei Tondo is the nickname for the unfinished work – properly titled The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John – which was commissioned by the wealthy cloth merchant Taddeo Taddei. Carved around 1505 for Taddeo Taddei, a rich cloth merchant, the tondo (a circular painting or relief) depicts, against a rocky landscape, the Christ Child lunging for the sanctuary of … The Royal Academy of Arts has been considering selling Michelangelo’s marble sculpture Taddei Tondo. [8], Taddeo Taddei was patron and friend of Raphael, who studied and reworked the tondo in two drawings, the versi of The Storming of Perugia in the Louvre and of compositional studies for the Madonna del Prato at Chatsworth House. The Taddei Tondo was given to the London gallery in 1829 to inspire the academy's schools after the death of owner Lady Margaret Beaumont and is the only marble sculpture by the Italian artist Michelangelo in the United Kingdom. The loan never happened, partly because of obstacles over a temporary export licence. Today, the Taddei Tondo (named after its commissioner) could well be worth several hundred million pounds, particularly after Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi sold for $450m in 2017. As a result, a group of Royal Academicians could put forward a plan to sell a 515-year-old sculpture, known as the Taddei Tondo. Donaldson warned Hutchison that not only were there risks that the tondo might be stolen or damaged, but that the academy “might receive and accept a substantial offer for the work” from a US source. We, here at Tudor Coins, buy only quality circulated and uncirculated coins and currency that we pass on to you knowing that the article is genuine. While The Observer newspaper published a report this Sunday saying that Academy members were pushing for a debate on the sale of the sculpture to avoid job losses, a spokesperson for the RA denied that any sale was on the cards, saying that it ‘has no intention of selling any works in its collection’.. “Taddei Tondo” is its nickname, it is properly titled “The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John.” This piece was made for the Florentine wool merchant Taddeo Taddei around 1504-05, which is where “Taddei” comes from. The sculpture, known as the Taddei Tondo, but more … Initially hung at Beaumont's house in Grosvenor Square, it was bequeathed to the Academy in 1830 and installed at Somerset House, before moving with the Academy to the east wing of the new National Gallery building in 1836, where it remained until the Academy relocated to Burlington House in 1868. Constable’s landscape painting The Leaping Horse (1825), its second most valuable item, was valued at £800,000. A chisel blow on the reverse seemingly from this earlier phase resulted in a hairline crack in the face of the Virgin that may only have become apparent as carving progressed. The Taddei Tondo is the only sculpture in the country made by Michelangelo. In the late 1970s the Royal Academy considered selling off its Michelangelo Taddei Tondo, which was then valued at £6m—well over twice what any work of art had ever fetched at auction. [15] Raphael returned to the twisting body of the Christ child stretching across his mother's lap in the Bridgewater Madonna. As a subscriber, you will also get live reports from leading art fairs and events, such as the Venice Biennale, plus special offers from The Art Newspaper. The result of this state of affairs is that for now the Taddei Tondo is the only sculpture by Michelangelo that could ever conceivably become available on the market. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. [18] With its differing degrees of finish the tondo is an outstanding technical study piece; plaster casts may be found at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Fitzwilliam Museum. The Taddei Tondo or The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John is a marble relief tondo (circular composition) of the Madonna and Child and the infant Saint John the Baptist, by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. [10][11] In the same few years that Michelangelo executed his only panel painting documented in contemporary sources, the Doni tondo, he sculpted the Pitti and Taddei tondi - but he did not return to the form. If it were to do so, there would be two main options — a private sale or a public auction. It has been reported that those in favour of the idea have called for a special meeting. The Taddei Tondo or The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John is a marble relief tondo (circular composition) of the Madonna and Child and the infant Saint John the Baptist, by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti.It is in the permanent collection of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, it is the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo in Great Britain. In the late 1970s the Royal Academy considered selling off its Michelangelo Taddei Tondo, which was then valued at £6m—well over twice what any work of art had ever fetched at auction. For a century from around 1430 all the leading artists, including Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, Piero di Cosimo, Fra Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto, Leonardo da Vinci (in a lost work), and Raphael, painted tondi. Our daily newsletter contains a round-up of the stories published on our website, previews of exhibitions that are opening and more. 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