Michelangelo Buonarroti Madonna and Child

"Madonna and Child" (Study for the Doni Tondo Madonna) is a preliminary drawing for the "Doni Tondo" (1504). Michelangelo chose not to use the positioning seen here, opting for a triangular configuration. Michelangelo's preferred medium for this type of work was red chalk, which had been introduced by Lenardo Vinci (1452-1519) during the year this work was executed. His confident depiction of the child demonstrates the ease with which he masterd new media and he went on to use it frequently, as in his "Study of Adam" (1511). From 1503, both Leonardo and Michelangelo were living in Florence. The two great artists were both later to receive a commission for battle scenes which were to be placed next to each other. There is said to have been great rivalry between the two; Leonardo had long been acknowledged as a genius, while Michelangelo was still building his reputation, although his success with "Pieta" and Bacchus had considerably strengthened his fame. Michelangelo also derived the notion of a triangular configuration-which he used for the Holy Family in his "Doni Tondo"-from Leonardo's work, but it was an idea that he developed and made his own.