Northern French, first-half 14th century

John and Johanna Bass Collection, New York, until 1963.

In her seminal book on French Gothic sculpture, Jacqueline Boccador describes the "...tres belle harmonie..."¹ that is often seen in the fine objects produced in France throughout the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.

The monumental Virgin is shown here, standing with the Christ Child on her hip, who is cradling a dove in one hand and making the sign of the Benediction in the other. Her mantle drapes over her outstretched arm, and falls in soft folds across her lower body. Her eyes are cast downward, her chin is slightly protruding and her mouth is somewhat upturned, creating a meditative, stoic presence.

This sculpture, stylistically and compositionally, belongs to an aesthetic that was being produced in France throughout the 14th century. Monumental limestone groups of the Virgin and Child were produced in various regions in France, but the present object is consistent with images from Northern France in the first half of the 14th century.

¹Jacqueline Boccador, Statuaire médiévale en France de 1400 à 1530, Zug, Les clefs du temps, 1974, 148-49.

RELATED LITERATURE

Josef Adolf Schmoll gen. Eisenwerth, Die Lothringische Skulptur des 14. Jahrhunderts, Petersberg, 2005, p. 147, no. 83, p. 209, no. 136, p. 236, no. 150