This dignified and gracious lady, holding the Divine Child in her arms, must be reckoned among Buonarroti's triumphs in dealing with the female form.

There is more of softness and sweetness here than in the Madonna of the Medicean sacristy, while the infant playing with a captured bird is full of grace.

Michelangelo left little in this group for the chisel of Montelupo to deform by alteration.

The seated female, a Sibyl, on the left, bears equally the stamp of his design.

Executed by himself, this would have been a masterpiece for grandeur of line and dignified repose.