Virgin and Child

ca. 1750

Luis Salvador Carmona Spanish, 1708-1767

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

Luis Salvador Carmona, one of the foremost sculptors of the Spanish Rococo, carved this Virgin and Child from many blocks of wood, skillfully lending Mary’s garments the complex silhouettes then fashionable in Madrid. The sculptor personally oversaw the layered application of paint and gilding to his works, and the figures’ skin and clothing retain their original, glowing surfaces.
A document dated 1750 attests to Carmona’s creation of this sculpture for the Chapel of the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid. The work was likely commissioned by the manufactory’s first director, Jacob Vandergotten, who emigrated along with many weavers from Flanders (present-day Belgium), a region famed for tapestry that had formed deep ties with Spain when both territories were ruled by members of the House of Habsburg. The sculpture depicts the infant Jesus grasping a cross upon which he meditates, iconography popular in the patron’s homeland but unusual in Spain. Vandergotten and his weavers formed a devotional brotherhood dedicated to Jesus and Mary, and this dedication may have informed Carmona’s design, who counted such confraternities among his best clients.

Title Virgin and Child

Artwork Date ca. 1750

Artist Luis Salvador Carmona

Life Dates 1708-1767

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Spanish

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Polychrome coniferous wood, glass

Dimensions Overall: 51 1/2 × 25 × 19 inches (130.8 × 63.5 × 48.3 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Ernest and Rosemarie Kanzler Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2016.31

Markings

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Provenance

Chapel in the Real Fabrica de Tapices (Madrid, Spain).
Van der Goten-Stuyck Family (Madrid, Spain).
(Colnaghi, London, England);
2016-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition 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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Published References

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Luis Salvador Carmona, Virgin and Child, ca. 1750, polychrome coniferous wood, glass. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Ernest and Rosemarie Kanzler Foundation Fund, 2016.31.