Child Jesus in Terracotta, Tuscany End of the 15th early 16th century

Served by a modelling of unprecedented naturalism, this terracotta brings to life a chubby infant whose curves are emphasised by folds of flesh massed around his stomach, groin and thighs.
The gesticulating attitude of our toddler is rendered here with great vivacity, introduced by a double twist of his shoulders and head, directed to his left. The artist's ambition is to create a statue that combines a certain softness of form with a liveliness of attitude. The artist's work is in the tradition of Benedetto da Maiano, from whom he borrows certain characteristics: sinuosity of line, delicacy of modelling and refinement of composition.

Our terracotta was probably once part of an important group of sculptures, a Presepe (a cot), celebrating the birth of Christ and his
Adoration. In this context, our work can be compared with the polychrome terracotta Reclining Christ Child in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, dated 1480-1500, and with two other Florentine terracotta figures of the Christ Child, based on a model by da Maiano:
The first, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is by Antonio Rosselino, and the second, in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, is by an anonymous Florentine sculptor from the early 16th century.
The figure of the Infant Jesus in the centre of the famous Nativity group, attributed to Antonio Rossellino and his workshop, also displays a number of formal similarities and suggests that, in a very similar way, our Christ might once have been placed on the ground, emerging from a straw basket or mattress.