Strata: New Acquisitions

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For $4.4 million at a Sotheby’s auction in January, the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth acquired a Madonna and Child known as The Borromeo Madonna. It is a terracotta relief by 15th-century sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello.

The relief had hung in the church of San Giovanni Battista in Lissaro di Mestrino (outside Padua) until the early 20th century, when it was sold to fund the purchase of an organ. A plaster copy now hangs in place of the original.

Only a substantial cleaning in recent years revealed that the relief was indeed by Donatello. The elegance of emotion in the faces contrasted with the heavy “wet” folds of the drapery are in the distinctive style of the master himself.

A second work was acquired at the same auction as a gift for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for a mere $1.3 million. It pictures Mary Magdalene, overcome with the emotion of the moment, looking for guidance from an angel. Known as The Penitent Magdalene, this piece was painted in the 18th century by Italian painter Corrado Giaquinto.