Michelangelo Tondo Doni or Doni Madonna
Tondo Doni is a panel paiting by Michelangelo Buonarroti and was executed between 1506-1508 in oil and tempera on wood. Its diameter is about 120 cm and it is currently located in Florence, Uffizi Gallery.
The Tondo Doni is one of the most famous paintings by Michelangelo Buonarroti, the highly appreciated Italian Renaissance artist and the first of his panel paintings. Moreover, it is the single painting of this kind which has been finished, at least when it comes to the three which have survived.
The painting is named after its first owner, Tondo Doni, sometimes it is named Doni Madonna. The painting shows the Holy Family with the Infant Jesus. In the middle ground, right behind the wall, which separates the Holy Family in the foreground from the background a small boy is wears a camel coat. Thus, he is often identified as John the Baptist. The five nude persons in the background – actually the whole painting – have been subject to various speculations.
Until the 17th Century it was generally believed to be a simple devotional motif. Afterwards the first attempts arose to see Doni Tondi as an allegory. One interpretation identifies the Holy Family as the Catholic Church while the nudes in the background could symbolize the antiquity.
