The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John

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The "Taddei Tondo" is a unique masterpiece by Michelangelo situated in Great Britain. Commissioned by Taddeo Taddei, it originally resided in the Casa Taddei, Florence, before being acquired by Jean-Baptiste Wicar in Rome. Sir George Beaumont purchased the sculpture in 1822 and gifted it to the Royal Academy. At the left side of the tondo stands a youthful figure of St. John the Baptist, holding a baptismal bowl as his attribute. He presents what appears to be a goldfinch (symbolizing the Passion) to the infant Christ, who briefly turns away towards his mother, symbolically anticipating his future destiny. The relief is believed to have been created between 1504 and 1505 when Michelangelo worked in Florence. During this time he produced two other circular compositions: a painting, "Doni Tondo" (Uffizi, Florence), and a marble relief, "Pitti Tondo" (Bargello, Florence). The "Taddei Tondo" is one of several unfinished sculptural works by Michelangelo that have been the subject of intense scholarly debate since the sixteenth-century. It is likely that Michelangelo abandoned some of his sculptures due to being over-committed to multiple projects. Giorgio Vasari suggested that he did not complete certain compositions out of creative frustration, an idea that has crystallized into the notion of the artist as a troubled genius. C.R. Cockerell observed the tondo at Beaumont's estate in 1823 and described it as a "great treat." The unfinished state of the sculpture with its contrasting rough and smooth surfaces did not deter him but rather enhanced his visual enjoyment of it. He noted in his diary that: "The subject seems to emerge from the marble, assuming shape, features from an unformed mass. As one observes, it is as if tracing and watching its birth from the sculptor's mind, like a chicken breaking through its shell. I have seen nothing but this that conveys the idea expressed in the Greek epigram of a sculptor who says, 'I have no merit except discovering the form that lies within the marble.' One feels an intense desire to continue discovering and disclosing more."