Her hands are the work of a great artist, and they are really holding the Child.

Why this should not be an early Donatello I do not see.
The cloisters of S.Croce are entered from the piazza, just to the right of the church: the first, a little ornate, by Arnolfo, and the second, until recently used as a barracks but now being restored to a more pacific end, by Brunelleschi, and among the most perfect of his works.

Brunelleschi is also the designer of the Pazzi chapel in the first cloisters.

The severity of the facade is delightfully softened and enlivened by a frieze of mischievous cherubs' heads, the joint work of Donatello and Desiderio.

Donatello's are on the right, and one sees at once that his was the bolder, stronger hand.