Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo: Behold the Lamb of God Dr. Francis P. DeStefano Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo is one of the greatest masterpieces of the High Renaissance. It is his only surviving panel painng and now hangs in the Uffizi in its original frame. Most scholars date it somewhere between the compleon of the David in 1504 and Michelangelo’s departure from Florence to Rome in 1506. Like many of the masterpieces of this era, it has elicited many different interpretaons. At first glance, it appears to be simply a tradional rendering of the Holy Family but, on closer inspecon, it raises a number of quesons. In the foreground Mary, Joseph, and the Infant Jesus are situated in a landscape. But what is going on? Is Mary handing the Child to Joseph, or is Joseph handing the Child to Mary? Why does Mary look as she does with muscular arms shockingly uncovered? What is Joseph doing in the painng?