About the Artwork
The Virgin Mary’s voluminous robes, once enlivened with layers of plaster and pigment known as polychromy, seem to drape over a robust, three-dimensional form. She cradles the infant Jesus, who turns his chubby torso toward her to exchange a warm glance. Archival documents suggest that Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy commissioned this sculpture — and several others — from Juan de la Huerta, perhaps for the now-destroyed castle of Rouvres, southeast of the Burgundian capital of Dijon, France. The striking naturalism of this work was influenced by the revolutionary Burgundian artist Claus Sluter, who departed from earlier, more idealized styles to create sculptures inspired by close observation of nature. De la Huerta emigrated from Aragon (present-day Spain) to the Duchy of Burgundy to join Sluter’s workshop, eventually succeeding him as its leader.
Virgin and Child
ca. 1455
Circle of Juan de la Huerta School of Dijon
active 1450-1460
French
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Limestone, with traces of polychromy
Overall: 42 3/4 × 18 1/4 × 11 1/4 inches (108.6 × 46.4 × 28.6 cm) Pedestal: 42 1/8 × 26 × 20 inches (107 × 66 × 50.8 cm)
Sculpture
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb
36.27
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
until 1928, (Durlacher Brothers) (New York, New York, USA);November 22, 1928, sold to Mr. Edgar B. and Mrs. Anna S. Whitcomb (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1936-present, their gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Walther, J. "Exhibition of French Gothic Art." Bulletin of the DIA 10, no. 3 (December 1928): pp. 38-43, p. 42 (ill.).
Loan Exhibitions of French and Gothic Art. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1928, no. 44.
Heil, W. Pantheon (1929): p. 75.
Troescher, G. Claus Sluter und die burgundische Plastik um die Wende des XIV. Jahrhunderts, vol. I (1932): p. 80, pl. XXII (ill.).
Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculpture given by Edgar R. Whitcomb and Anna Scripps Whitcomb to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1954, p. 118-119 (ill.).
The International Style, the Arts of Europe Around 1400. Exh. cat., Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore, 1962, no. 79.
Treasures of Medieval France. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1966, p. 22, no. 6 (ill.).
DIA Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 73.
Oursel, H. "Proposal for the Dating of Two 15th-Century Burgundian Virgin and Child Sculptures." Bulletin of the DIA 55, no. 4 (1977): pp. 190-198 (figs. 1, 8). [as Burgundian, third quarter of the 15th century.]
Valentiner, W.R. "Late Gothic Sculpture in Detroit." Art Quarterly 6, no. 4 (1943): pp. 276-305, (fig. 2) p. 279 (ill.).
Gillerman, D., ed. Gothic Sculpture in America, vol. I: The New England Museums. New York and London, 1989, cat. no. 222, p. 294.
Prochno, Renate. “The Artistic Influence of the Charterhouse Worksite.” In Art from the Court of Burgundy: The Patronage of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, 1364–1419. Cleveland, 2004, p. 242, no. 17 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
circle of Juan de la Huerta School of Dijon, Virgin and Child, ca. 1455, limestone, with traces of polychromy. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb, 36.27.
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