Description
The Tondo Pitti is a marble bas-relief by Michelangelo Buonarroti, executed between 1503 and 1504 and preserved in the National Museum of the Bargello in Florence. Created for Bartolomeo Pitti, the work is one of the rare private commissions completed during the processing of the David: Mary holds a book of the Holy Scriptures open on her lap; looks away into the distance. The Child leaning against her in a lively contrast, and, in the barely visible background, Saint John the Baptist. Particularly expressive is the contrast between the figure of John the Baptist and the finiteness and relief of that of the Virgin, also giving the idea of climb the floors deep into the bas-relief. In 1823 it was bought by the shop of the antique dealer Fedele Acciai. Located in the Uffizi, it was finally assigned to the newly established Bargello Museum in 1873.
