Putto Poised on a Globe

Andrea del Verrocchio

National Gallery of Art

Sculpted in clay, a toddler balances his plump body on his right foot as he raises his left leg and right arm. In ths photograph, his body is squared to us. His left hand, on our right, rests near his hip. Gazing up and to our left, his cheeks are puffed in blowing through pursed lips, and his hair falls in soft ringlets. The fingers of his raised hand are folded into a loose fist. Tipped slightly forward onto his toes, he balances on a gold-half dome.