Sculpted by Michelangelo around 1504–1505 for the Florentine patrician Taddeo Taddei, the 'Taddei Tondo' is a marble circular relief depicting the infant Christ recoiling toward the Virgin at the sight of a goldfinch — a bird symbolising the Passion — held out by the young John the Baptist. The deliberate non-finito handling, where some passages remain rough and others are highly polished, catches Michelangelo between Donatellian 'schiacciato' and fully Roman classicism. Acquired in 1830 by the Royal Academy in London, it is the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo on permanent public display in Britain.

Exhibition Venue

Royal Academy of Arts

City of Westminster, United Kingdom