  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  Bendetto da Maiano, the leading Florentine sculptor in the 1480s and 1490s, created this partially painted terracotta relief as a preparatory model for the upper left central marble section of his famous altarpiece of the Annunciation in Sant&acirc;&#128;&#153;Anna dei Lombardi in Naples. The sculptor carved this in Florence with assistance from the young Michelangelo and sent it to Naples by September 1489. Terracotta models such as this one were often used by Renaissance sculptors to sketch out details of their finished works (note here the sensitive treatment of the faces and hands), but relatively few survive. Among the eight known terracotta models surviving from Benedetto&acirc;&#128;&#153;s career, this relief is one of the few to retain traces of its original paint surface. This is also the Detroit Institute of Art&acirc;&#128;&#153;s only documented Renaissance terracotta model for a marble.
  
  
  Title
  God the Father with Two Angels
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1489
  
  Artist
  Benedetto da Maiano
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1442-1497
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Italian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Polychromed terracotta
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 14 1/4 &Atilde;&#151; 10 &Atilde;&#151; 2 7/8 inches (36.2 &Atilde;&#151; 25.4 &Atilde;&#151; 7.3 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, Joseph M. de Grimme Memorial Fund, the Stoddard Family Foundation Fund, with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Silverman, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Brodie, and Dr. and Mrs. Reginald Harnett
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum&acirc;&#128;&#153;s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2006.60
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
