Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John by Michelangelo

The last works of Michelangelo were religious in content, reflecting his deepening spirituality. From his work as architect at St Peter's in Rome, through to his final Pieta sculptures and his last drawings, Michelangelo seems to have been seeking reden1ption through his art; trying to find some visual expression of his intense religious beliefs.

This drawing is revisiting the theme of the Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist that Michelangelo had explored in his earlier career with the three tondos, especially the two marble reliefs of the Pitti Tondo and the Taddei Tonda.

Michelangelo's treatment of Madonna and Child with Infant St John is unusually light. The two children seem playful, cherubic, and much like a pair of mischievous caryatids from the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes. The positioning has also changed: whereas St John in all three early tondos was at a distance from Christ, here he is directly behind him with one of his arms held around him. The Madonna also seems less introverted thanin the earlier marble reliefs, in which she looks out towards the viewer, ignoring her son who leans on her lap.