Paduan relief, for instance, is almost a genre
representation of a mother and child, domestic and
intimate, with nothing but the halos to indicate the
higher meaning of the theme. Having said so much,
we come to the other Madonnas which are assigned on
various grounds to Donatello: those known as
the Madonnas Pazzi, Orlandini, Siena Cathedral, Pietra
Piana; the London oval, the Madonna of the Rose, the
Capella Medici group, and the Piot and Courajod Madonnas
in the Louvre. All of these have one or more
features which conflict with our ideas of Donatello.
It is impossible to say that any one of them must
inevitably be by Donatello himself; none of them carry
their own sign-manual of authenticity. The Pazzi
Madonna in Berlin[223] is now generally ascribed to
Donatello himself, and certainly no more grandiose
version of the subject exists. The Virgin is holding
up the Child close to her beautiful face; she broods
over him, and the countenance is full of foreboding.
The solemnity of the large Paduan Madonna is visible
here, and it is only made to apply to the Virgin,
for the Child is a typical bambino. So,
too, in the relief outside the transept door of Siena
Cathedral we find this grim careworn expression and
the sense of impending drama: the massacre of
the Innocents is still to come. This relief,
a marble tondo, is in such abnormally perfect
condition that one wonders if it may not be a later
replica of some original which the atmosphere
disintegrated. Donatello must have provided the
design; at any rate, it is difficult to suggest an
alternative name. The four winged cherubs are,
however, lifeless and ill-drawn, while the Christ
is more like some of the putti on the Aragazzi
reliefs than Donatello’s typical boy. The
share of Michelozzo in the reliefs ascribed to Donatello
is larger than has been hitherto acknowledged.
The Orlandini Madonna[224] yearns like a tigress as
she holds up her child and gazes into its face; here
again we have a composition for which Donatello must
have been primarily responsible, though the full profile
is attributable to inefficient handling of the marble
rather than to deliberate intention. Signor Bardini’s
version of this relief has a delicacy lacking in the
original; one touch of colour removes a certain awkwardness
of the profile. The Madonna in the Via Pietra
Piana at Florence belongs to a different category.
Here again the design is Donatellesque, but the face
of the Madonna has a dull and vacant look; not only
is it without the powerful modelling of the Pazzi or
Siena reliefs, but it shows none of the sentiment
for which those two Madonnas are so remarkable.
There are several reproductions in Berlin and London,[225]
all differing from the Florentine version in the drapery
of the head-dress. Closely related to this Madonna
is another composition which only exists in soft materials.[226]
The Virgin, with long wavy hair, looks downwards towards
her Child, who is looking outwards to the spectator.