Pitti Madonna (Michelangelo). Dimensions: 79 x 89 x 15 cm.

This plaque depicts the Virgin Mary sitting on a plinth with her Son next to her, leaning on a book that she is holding open on her lap. Squeezed into the space just behind the Virgin's shoulder is a young St. John. The image is a faithful cast of the bas-relief known as the Pitti Madonna, sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). The work commissioned by Bartolomeo Pitti was produced in Florence in around 1510. The Pitti Madonna is now kept in the Museo del Bargello in Florence. The mould that Cooperativa Ceramica d' Imola uses to make these ceramic plaques is a very faithful copy of the original. This includes respecting the original bas-relief's proportions, depth and deliberately "unfinished" touches that reveal the work of the artist. These include the different way the surfaces have been crafted, from certain roughed out areas where Michelangelo's chisel has gouged deep channels, to others where he has worked with a more refined finish and finally to the work's splendidly finished details that include the figures' faces and the projecting parts of their bodies. Thanks to this highly original "unfinished" technique, Michelangelo gives us an insight not only into the technical art of sculpture, but even more importantly, into the creative process that guided the restless and often dramatic creation of his artworks. ImolArte has chosen to colour this relief with a simple, monochrome white.