Sculpture

Putto

Every ceiling in Renaissance Italy seems populated by rosy flying children.

IT  —  Chubby winged or unwinged child figure in Renaissance and Baroque art

A putto (Italian plural: 'putti') is the chubby, childlike figure — usually male, often winged — that appears ubiquitously in Renaissance and Baroque art, particularly in decorative contexts: on altarpieces, tomb monuments, ceiling frescoes, fountains and architectural details. Putti derive from ancient Roman and Greek art ('erotes' or 'amoretti'), where they represented the mischievous attendants of Eros. In Christian art they became confused with cherubim — the second order of angels — though technically they are distinct. The winged variety are cherubs; the unwinged variety are amorini (little Cupids). Raphael's two famous pensive putti at the bottom of the Sistine Madonna (c.1512) have become the most reproduced detail in Western art — appearing on greeting cards, notebooks and posters worldwide. Donatello's cantoria in Florence shows putti dancing and singing with extraordinary energy.

Further Reading The Agony and the Ecstasy Irving Stone Bookshop.org →