Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
The Madonna of the Stairs (or Madonna of the Steps) is a relief sculpture by Michelangelo in the Casa Buonarroti, Florence. It was sculpted around 1490, when Michelangelo was about fifteen. This and the "Battle of the Centaurs" were Michelangelo's first two sculptures. The first reference to the "Madonna of the Stairs" as a work by Michelangelo was in the 1568 edition of Giorgio Vasari's "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects".