Tondi (autonomous paintings or sculpture in a circular format) became a popular art form in Florence between the mid-fifteenth century and approximately 1520. A large majority of tondi—which feature the Madonna and Child, often in the company of saints or angels and occasionally in narrative scenes—were generally created for private devotion in the home during the Renaissance. Examples of famous tondi include Domenico Veneziano’s Adoration of the Magi (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, ca. 1441), Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna of the Magnificat (Florence, Uffizi, ca. 1482), Michelangelo’s Doni Holy Family (Florence, Uffizi, ca. 1503–6), and Raphael’s Madonna della Sedia (Florence, Galleria Pitti, ca. 1514). Roberta Olson’s point of departure in this study is Moritz Hauptmann’s Der Tondo: Ursprung, Bedeutung, und Geschichte des italienischen Rundbildes in Relief und Malerei (Frankfurt: V. Klostermann, 1936), a primarily formalistic examination of the subject. The layout of the volume is as follows: chapters 1–4 seek the genesis of this art form and examine its functions and contexts; chapters 5–7 discuss phases of development of the tondo and its iconographies; and chapter 8 explores the demise of the genre and serves as both epilogue and conclusion. Olson’s initial concern is a search for prototypes for the tondo (chapter 1). Because...