Madonna del Popolo

One of Barocci’s best received altarpieces in his lifetime was his Madonna del Popolo (1575-1579). This is also considered to be one of his most complex pieces, in terms of composition and idea.

 Barocci, Madonna del Popolo, 1575-1579

The confraternity that commissioned this piece was the Fraternità di Santa Maria della Misericordia and they were the leading lay fraternity in Arezzo. This confraternity was known for their charitable works both for the church and for the city of Arezzo. They identified strongly with how they represented themselves, so they were known for commissioning artists to create various Madonna images. Some of the artists the confraternity commissioned were Bernardo Rossellino, Bartolomeo della Gatta, Domenico Pecori, and Rosso Fiorentino and Federico Barocci. All of the commissions were extremely different, but were of the same subject: the Virgin Mary presiding over a large mass of people. These image was the confraternity’s logo, in a sense, because this Madonna is concerned for her people and is looking over them. Very much like the confraternity and their charity work.

 

 

Domenico Pecori, Madonna of the Misericordia, c. 1510

Barocci’s Madonna del Popolo, however, is extremely different than any previous commission. He has separated the heavenly realm from the earthly by a cloud, which the divine are sitting on. On the far right there is a baby cherub/angel who seems to be falling off the cloud but is resisting with all his strength, physically pulling himself back up onto the cloud at the Virgin’s feet. This is the closest any of the divine figures get to breaching the mortal realm in this altarpiece. Another difference is in most depictions of the Madonna, she is either alone or she is accompanied by baby Jesus; in Barocci’s altarpiece, the Madonna is accompanied by an adult Jesus.

In the mortal realm the viewer sees a mass of people, but one small group seems to be bathed in golden light, a mother and a small child. The mother is looking at the child instructing it to look up at the divine, but the child is fascinated with a group of figures on the right and is not looking up at the Madonna. I believe, Barocci highlighted this group of figures because it is what a traditional Madonna and child would generally look like. They are also directly opposite of the Madonna and Christ, creating a strong diagonal across the altarpiece.

Another aspect of the painting that is interesting is the center of the painting. It is generally empty, all that shares this space is a small dove which is surrounded by glowing, white light.

This was one of Barocci’s most successful altarpieces in his lifetime. I believe because he was exploring how the divine and the mortal interact and how they can reflect each other. This is the case with the Madonna and Child and the mortal mother and child.