Madonna and Child
by MINO DA FIESOLE, Marble with traces of gilding, 94 x 80
This relief is one of four produced for the ciborium (canopy) erected by Cardinal Guillaume d’Estouteville over the high altar of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
The ciborium, a large and ornate structure, was originally decorated with 32 sculptures carved in high relief. It was dismantled in 1747 with most of its sculptures now displayed in other locations throughout Santa Maria Maggiore. Other sculptures were sold into private collections, with one, the Madonna and Child, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Three other relief sculptures from this same set, Christ Blessing, The Annunciation, and Saints Peter and Paul, were later set into the walls of Maggiore’s sacristy where they remain today.