Mary, wearing a gold robe and crown, holds a seated baby Jesus
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A light-skinned Virgin Mary stands on an eight-sided wooden podium wearing a long golden robe and pointed golden shoes. On her head is a gold crown topped with small crosses. She wears a beige covering over her hair, and her eyes gaze slightly toward her left. In her left arm she holds a seated light-skinned baby Jesus, who in turn holds a golden ball in his left hand. His other hand is extended to clasp the woman’s right hand. The colors of the sculpture show some wear, including blotchiness and areas where paint has rubbed off to reveal wood.

Gallery Text

In the late Middle Ages, Christian spirituality increasingly focused on the salvation of individual souls. Devotional practice was no longer confined to the liturgy, but was supplemented with private prayer. Individuals acquired their own prayer books, and the growing aristocratic and bourgeois classes commissioned small devotional works, like the portable ivory shown here. The invention of printmaking led to the proliferation of sacred images, some inspired by earlier manuscript illuminations. Other objects, like the bronze plaque here, were in turn modeled after prints.

[1946.56, 1957.217, 1962.282, BR65.10]

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1957.217
People
Unidentified Artist
Previously attributed to circle of Peter Parler, Bohemian (Gmünd 1330 - 1399 Prague)
Title
The Virgin and Child
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1350-1360
Culture
Austrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228448

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2440, Medieval Art
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Polychromed wood
Dimensions
41 x 13.7 x 11.4 cm (16 1/8 x 5 3/8 x 4 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Mrs. Jesse Isidor Straus, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1957

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. Jesse Isidor Straus in memory of her husband, Jesse Isidor Straus, Class of 1893
Accession Year
1957
Object Number
1957.217
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • "Gothic Sculpture in American Collections: The Checklist: I: The New England Museums", GESTA, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman (1980), vol. XIX, no. 2, p.118, fig. 7, repr.
  • Anita F. Moskowitz, Gothic Sculpture in America, I: The New England Museums, ed. Dorothy W. Gillerman, Garland Publishing, Inc. (New York, 1989), no. 288 p. 383, repr.
  • Robert Suckale, "Eine Unbekannte Madonnenstatuette der Wiener Hofkunst", Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege, Verlag A. Schroll & Co., g.m.b.h. (Vienna, 1995), XLIV, Heft 3, p. 147-159. repr. in b/w p. 148 as fig. 161, p. 149 as figs. 162-4
  • Ulrich Söding, Der Schmerzensmann: Bildwerke des Schönen Stils und des frühen Realismus, Sascha Mehringer (Munich, Germany, 2018), pp. 66-67, 91, repr. as fig. 47 on p.66

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2440 Medieval, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu