We always think of Michelangelo as the sculptor who created the "David" (Academia museum),
and four different Pietas, his most famous Pieta being the one in St. Peters.
Our associations with Michelangelo as a painter are usually related to his masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling frescos, (1508-1512),
and the fresco of the "Last Judgement" on the Sistine altar wall. (1534-1541)

Most people are unaware of his few panel paintings, such as this one known as the "Doni Tondo",
which Michelangelo painted between 1504 -1506. A "tondo" is a painting in a round shape.

This painting was commissioned by the wealthy banker Agnolo Doni , possibly as a wedding gift
for his bride Maddelena Strozzi.
The composition with the Virgin leaning back to either hand the Christ Child to Joseph, or to take the baby from Joseph,
makes a wonderful circular composition which is echoed in the frame, which is also considered to be a masterpiece.

The strange and almost iridescent colors, with strong breaks between light and shadows,
as well as the somewhat unnatural and awkward poses and entanglement of arms,
are all elements seen in a new style of painting called Mannerism,
a style seen in many of the figures Michelangelo later painted in his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel
Mannerism gradually took over the previous graceful, realistic Renaissance style of painting like
we see in the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and other artists contemporary with Michelangelo.