Page 211 - The mystery of faith

Fig. 3

Pardo strove for and also achieved a sense of physical beauty in the Virgin’s face in order to deliberately
underscore the sense of intimacy between mother and child, which is so distinct in this relief. The
Virgin’s elegant, tapered hands are a recurring feature in Pardo’s work and, in line with his workshop
technique, conform to the formula of joining the centre fingers and separating the index and the little
finger. Also standard is the Virgin’s hairstyle arranged in bulging locks, with one lock left hanging in
front of the ear: a style founded in the Burgos workshop of Diego de Siloé.

This relief also illustrates the significant shift towards stylistic simplicity and an abandonment of the
medieval sense of ornamentation, with its attendant luxury and use of jewels and costly garments.
Above all, it is the anatomical precision and clarity of the figure that are the hallmarks of Pardo’s
innovative style. The present Madonna is dressed in the Roman fashion in a simple tunic and mantle,
which is decorated simply with a narrow frieze-like border. The tilt of the Virgin’s head and the child’s
up-reaching arm mirror the composition of Donatello’s Pazzi Madonna (Berlin, Staatlichen Museen).

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